Would-be TESLA buyers snub company as Musk's reputation dips...
Elon Enters the 'Please Clap' Stage...
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/03/29/a-proclamation-on-transgender-day-of-visibility-2024/
Nothing must interfere with Joe's transgender agenda, the first American president officially to push it.
The core pce inflation rate currently is still 75% worse than Trump's 1.6%.
The three year Biden average is 4.31%, which is 169% worse than under Trump.
Real Clear Politics currently shows an average of 64.6% saying the country is on the wrong track.
Utilities are shutting down "dirty" capacity without adequately replacing it. The law of supply and demand means only one thing: higher prices. OK, two: blackouts.
Meanwhile, tax credits under Biden's phony Inflation Reduction Act are masking the true costs of renewables.
From a Wall Street Journal op-ed "The Coming Electricity Crisis: Artificial-intelligence data centers and climate rules are pushing the power grid to what could become a breaking point" here :
Obama Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz last week predicted that utilities will ultimately have to rely more on gas, coal and nuclear plants to support surging demand. “We’re not going to build 100 gigawatts of new renewables in a few years,” he said. No kidding.
The problem is that utilities are rapidly retiring fossil-fuel and nuclear plants. “We are subtracting dispatchable [fossil fuel] resources at a pace that’s not sustainable, and we can’t build dispatchable resources to replace the dispatchable resources we’re shutting down,” Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner Mark Christie warned this month.
About 20 gigawatts of fossil-fuel power are scheduled to retire over the next two years—enough to power 15 million homes—including a large natural-gas plant in Massachusetts that serves as a crucial source of electricity in cold snaps. PJM’s external market monitor last week warned that up to 30% of the region’s installed capacity is at risk of retiring by 2030.
Some plants are nearing the end of their useful life-spans, but an onslaught of costly regulation is the bigger cause. A soon-to-be-finalized Environmental Protection Agency rule would require natural-gas plants to install expensive and unproven carbon capture technology.
The PJM report cites “the role of states and the federal government in subsidizing resources and in environmental regulation.” It added: “The simple fact is that the sources of new capacity that could fully replace the retiring capacity have not been clearly identified.”
Meantime, the Inflation Reduction Act’s huge renewable subsidies make it harder for fossil-fuel and nuclear plants to compete in wholesale power markets. The cost of producing power from solar and wind is roughly the same as from natural gas. But IRA tax credits can offset up to 50% of the cost of renewable operators.
Baseload plants can’t turn a profit operating only when needed to back up renewables, so they are closing. This was the main culprit for Texas’s week-long power outage in February 2021 and the eastern U.S.’s rolling blackouts during Christmas 2022.
It's going to be even more funny when The Washington Post blames the Christians for the fires in town.
Farewell -- and good riddance -- to 'typical American family'...
When my partner and I file our annual income taxes in the coming weeks, we'll enjoy a sizable tax break thanks to our decision to tie the knot last fall. And as a dependent on his employer-provided health-insurance plan, I'm able to make a living as a freelancer without worrying about healthcare coverage.
KING CHARLES CALLS FOR MORE KINDNESS IN TIME ON NEED...
King Charles will stress the importance of friendship "especially in a time of need" in his first public address since the Princess of Wales revealed she was undergoing cancer treatment.
Israelis Questioning Their Nation's Dependence on USA...
The [UN] resolution called for a cease-fire as well as the release of hostages, instead of embracing the Israeli position that a cease-fire be predicated on the hostages’ release. ...
The U.S. has rarely used its leverage in the Security Council before to express dissatisfaction with Israel. The last time was in 2016, under the Obama administration, when the U.S. abstained from voting on a resolution that called for a halt to all Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.
The story is here:
My insurance was $185/month with a $1,000 deductible. That was for a family of 5. So I voted for Obama-Biden in 2008 based on Obamacare. ... the cheapest insurance I could find to replace that one was $1,200 a month with a $6,000 deductible.
The guy had a great plan before Obama!
But Obamacare as he now thinks he knows it didn't even exist in 2008 for him to base his vote on it.
Obama was for something else, the public option, a government-funded health insurance plan designed to compete with private health insurance. That was also Nancy Pelosi's preference, and the preference of the US House Democrat left at the time.
The great fear was the public option would crowd out private insurance and defeat it because it would be more attractive to women and the chronically ill.
The House public option plan put forward in 2009 competed with the Senate plan, and the two proposals were at an impasse by the end of 2009. Eventually the Senate version prevailed in March of 2010.
The Senate plan was actually worse, what we now call Obamacare.
It dictated the much more expensive nature and new shape of all existing private insurance plans instead of providing a separate public option to compete with those already existing private insurance plans. It cost more to provide because it eliminated pre-existing condition exclusions, and treated men and women equally even though women's care is more costly.
It was fascism pure and simple, government dictating to the private sector what will be, and what will not be.
That's how you lost your old plan, your old doctor, and your money: Because Obama bowed to the Senate plan, instead of fighting for what he said he believed in.
If you were too poor, though, to qualify for Obamacare, you just got stuck with Medicaid, health insurance for the poor, and, failing that, with nothing at all.
The once heralded public option for everyone defaulted to Medicaid. Nearly 86 million are now stuck with that, and most are unaware of its clawback provisions.
Today only 21 million can afford Obamacare, and about 25 million non-elderly adults have bupkis, like the poor fella in the story had for ten years.
Meanwhile, 158 million have employer-provided health insurance, the cost of which climbs relentlessly. The average worker had to pay $549 a month in premiums for it in 2023.
Medicare provides coverage to about 66 million aged 65+, and costs nearly $175 a month in 2024.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Now Fed Chair Powell has just said it's time for the pace of the roll-off to slow.
That's the curved line slowly trending down from it's peak near $9 trillion to $7.5 trillion now.
Just as the National Debt will never be paid down, the Fed will never stop intervening in the Treasury market to limit supply and support prices, which suppresses market driven interest rates.
Powell isn't serious about fighting inflation.
New York Post here:
Biden’s goals will push internal-combustion-vehicle prices into the stratosphere, and likely still not get consumers to play along; the 2032 mandate is beyond impossible to meet.
Instead, Americans will keep older cars on the road far longer; even paying through the nose for clunkers and repairs will be the better bet.
May 2023: Average age of a car on the road in the US hit a record 12.5 years, up 3 months from 2022.
I have two cars for my family. One is 27 years old, the other 17.
Remember Cash For Clunkers under Obama?
Yeah, I skipped that.
Definitely worth a watch, here.
The guy at the end likens one party Democrat rule in Chicago to the one party communist state of China.
Impressive!
CNN just reported:
The funding legislation was approved by a vote of 74-24 at 2:02 a.m. ET, more than two hours after the midnight ET deadline for passage of the critical legislation that was approved by the House on Friday.
The U.S. has rapidly overwhelmed China as the world’s top spot for millionaires and billionaires, according a new report.
There are now more than 5.5 million Americans with liquid investible assets of more than $1 million, up 62% over the past decade and well above the global growth rate of 38%, according to the 2024 USA Wealth Report from Henley & Partners and New World Wealth.
Over the past five years, the population of millionaires in the U.S. has grown 35%, nearly twice as fast as China’s. The U.S. is now home to 37% of the world’s millionaires, up from 35% in 2018.
The divergence grows even more at the top of the wealth ladder. The U.S. has 9,850 centi-millionaires — those worth $100 million or more — compared with China’s 2,352. The U.S. has about 788 billionaires to China’s 305.
“The USA remains the world’s undisputed leader in private wealth creation and accumulation,” according to the report.
Dominic Volek, group head of private clients at Henley, said the strict Covid lockdowns in China coupled with increases in its government intervention in the private sector have slowed the growth in wealth creation.
“China has certainly slowed a lot due to these elements and the U.S. has benefited,” he said.
The shift from China to the U.S. is also reflected in wealth migration patterns. A net 13,500 Chinese millionaires left China in 2023, marking a new record. The U.S. had a net inflow of 2,200 millionaires in 2023 and a projected inflow of 3,500 in 2024, according to the Henley report.
WASHINGTON — The House voted 286-134 on Friday to pass a sweeping $1.2 trillion government funding bill, sending it to the Senate just hours before the deadline to prevent a shutdown. ...
The bill, released early Thursday, funds the departments of Homeland Security, State, Labor, Defense, Health and Human Services and various other agencies. Together with the $459 billion bill passed earlier this month, it fully funds the federal government to the tune of $1.659 trillion through September, after months of stopgap bills and negotiations.
More here.
The Roll Call Vote is here, if you want to check how your representative voted.
The argument is perennially NOT about deficit spending, but deficit spending on WHAT.
The projected tax shortfall for all programs for fiscal 2024 is $1.582 trillion, more than half of which will be net interest expense of $0.870 trillion on the exploding national debt. Interest payments on what we have already borrowed now exceed defense outlays of $0.822 trillion.
CBO in early February estimated fiscal 2024 discretionary spending at $1.739 trillion, so today's bill "saves" a mere $80 billion off that.
Mandatory spending on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. is estimated at $3.908 trillion for fiscal 2024.
It's obvious that spending should be cut and taxes raised, but no one has the courage for either.
They should just agree to do both and let the chips fall where they may. Everyone out here will be pissed, vote accordingly, and it would be a wash politically.
Current national debt is $34.5612 trillion and rising.
The Jerusalem Post reports:
The IDF announced on Thursday that in its four-day operation in Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, it has now killed around 140 terrorists from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as well as arrested around 650 additional terrorists.
... the IDF may have intentionally waited longer for more terrorist senior officials to arrive before attacking. ...
Some IDF sources explained that the terror groups likely returned to Shifa, despite the IDF already having cleaned it out in November 2023, because they did not expect the military to return to the hospital in the middle of Ramadan, with a rise in global criticism of Israel, and with hostage negotiations at a critical point.
CNBC reports today:
There’s fear among global automakers that Chinese rivals like the Warren Buffett-backed BYD could flood their markets, undercutting domestic production and vehicle prices to the detriment of their own auto industries.
“The introduction of cheap Chinese autos — which are so inexpensive because they are backed with the power and funding of the Chinese government — to the American market could end up being an extinction-level event for the U.S. auto sector,” the Alliance for American Manufacturing, a U.S. manufacturing advocacy group, said in a report last month.
BYD sold 1.57 million battery EVs last year, up from just 130,970 all-electric vehicles in 2020. That sales growth was enough to surpass Tesla to become the world’s largest producer of electric vehicles in late 2023.
The rise of BYD and other Chinese automakers led Tesla CEO Elon Musk in January to warn that Chinese automakers will “demolish” global rivals without trade barriers. ...
The company has quickly rolled out new and updated products. It’s also rapidly established manufacturing, as it has its eyes set on factories in Thailand, Brazil, Indonesia, Hungary, Uzbekistan and, potentially, Mexico. ...
Former President Donald Trump – the front-runner among Republicans in the 2024 presidential race – on Saturday suggested instituting a 100% tariff on cars made in Mexico by Chinese companies, should he be elected to a second term.
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.
4 million voters purchased.
Biden cancels nearly $6 billion in student debt for 78K public service workers
The administration forged ahead with its plan despite pleas from thousands of car dealerships across the country, warnings from industry leaders and major manufacturers slashing production. Demand in recent years has failed to meet growth expectations. ...
“This rule is delusional,” the senators said. “This is the Biden administration’s attempt to get rid of the internal combustion engine without congressional authority.” Sen. Joe Manchin III, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia, was ready to side with Republicans. He called the rule “reckless and ill-informed.” “The federal government has no authority and no right to mandate what type of car or truck Americans can purchase for their everyday lives,” said Mr. Manchin, who chairs the Senate Energy Committee.
At the current pace of sales growth of all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, the U.S. would take decades to meet the administration’s 2032 goal. ...
The EPA wants 67% of all new light-duty vehicles and up to 32% of medium-duty vehicles to be electric by 2032. That includes a mixture of all-electric, plug-in electric hybrids and battery electric hybrids.
More.
The London PM gold fix soared 437% between 1970 and 1978 using average prices.
Gold is up about 60% since Powell became Fed Chair in February 2018. Gold has risen from about $1333 to $2142 on an average basis.
Gold hits fifth record high in March on Fed rate-cut view :
Gold prices on Thursday hit record highs for the fifth time this month after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled it would press ahead with three rate cuts in 2024 despite elevated inflation.
Spot gold was up 1.1% at $2,209.65 per ounce at after hitting an all-time high of $2,222.39 earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures soared 2.4% to $2,212.40. ...
Despite recent high inflation readings, Fed chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank is still likely to reduce interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point by the end of 2024, but that it also depends on further economic data. ...
Lower interest rates decrease the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion . . ..
Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar unexpectedly resigns
Remember all those women who resigned about a year ago?
Jacinda Ardern
Diane Feinstein (announced she wouldn't run again)
Lael Brainard
Christine Wilson
Nicola Sturgeon
From the story:
[The 2022 Supreme Court decision] led to a growing reliance on a two-pill regimen to terminate pregnancies, with U.S. abortions administered by pill increasing 10% since 2020, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights advocacy group.
The Institute's report is published every three years and based on data collected from U.S. abortion providers.
The survey found over 1 million total abortions were provided through the U.S. healthcare system in 2023, the first time that number exceeded a million since 2012. ...
The survey likely undercounted the number of abortions in the U.S. since it did not account for terminations obtained outside the formal U.S. healthcare system, such as those done with pills mailed from abroad.
Carbajal-Flores was charged under Title 18 of U.S. Criminal Code, which legally disallows undocumented individuals to possess firearms and ammunition "or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce."
The story is here.
By Will Grant, BBC News, Cap-Haitien, Haiti
"Port-au-Prince is in panic mode," a friend in the Haitian capital texted me.
Residents of Petionville, a wealthier area of of the city, are shaken after their most violent day so far in the country's spiralling security crisis.
More than a dozen bullet-ridden bodies lay in the street - the victims of the latest gang rampage.
As well as the early morning killing spree, the home of a judge was also attacked - a clear message to the country's elites vying for power.
All this in what is supposedly the safe part of town.
Unicef's executive director, Catherine Russell, has called the situation in Haiti "horrific" and likened the lawlessness to the post-apocalyptic film, Mad Max.
Certainly the latest violence in Port-au-Prince is a reminder, if any were needed, that Haiti remains closer to anarchy than stability.
In that malaise, the UN has also estimated, because of the closure of so many hospitals in the capital, some 3,000 pregnant women were at risk of having to give birth with no maternity care.
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.
admirably (perhaps excessively) historically accurate
the welcome clarity of the sound
the porkpie hat with the wide Western brim
the movie is overly critical of Oppenheimer
a nuclear weapon hasn’t been used in anger since 1945
Oppenheimer had a long track record of misjudging Stalin’s character . . . as head of the world’s most glamorous academic organization, the Institute for Advanced Studies, a job at which he was superb due to his polymathic near-infallibility of judgment
I try to hold glass-half-full opinions of scientists like Oppenheimer and Millikan and admire them for their historic accomplishments rather than cancel them for their mundane political opinions [even though] The Soviets tested their first fission bomb in 1949, largely due to having (at least) four spies at Los Alamos [thanks to J. Robert Oppenheimer's mundane political opinions]
Here.