Month: July 2024

Just when you’ve thought you’ve seen the worst, most egregious examples of inflation rearing its head, we give you: Six Flags.

The theme park was in the news this week after a customer went viral for spending $9 for a single Diet Coke at the park’s concessions, as was reported by DailyDot. 

Guyset (@theguyset) posted a viral video on TikTok expressing shock over paying $9.35 for a Diet Coke at Six Flags, showing his receipt as proof. Despite the high price, he bought it. He noted in the caption that both he and the cashier were stunned by the cost.

Other TikTokers shared similar experiences of high prices at amusement parks, concerts, and airports. One user recalled paying $12 for M&Ms at a concert, while another mentioned spending $15 on a small bag of jerky at an airport.

Many users shared their outrage over Six Flags’ prices. One mentioned paying $10 for a bottle of water, while another noted that at Kings Dominion, a slice of pizza and a breadstick cost $17.

A TikToker highlighted similar issues at other parks, citing an $85 bill for 2 hotdogs, 2 slices of pizza, and 3 drinks at Sesame Place for a family of four.

To emphasize the price difference, one user pointed out spending just $4.48 for three 2-liter bottles at a grocery store. Another suggested a hack for staying hydrated at theme parks: buy refillable cups or get a membership that includes refills.

In the comments section, people also lamented the price of items at places like airports. Recall last week we just wrote that Philadelphia’s airport had caused an “outrage” after slapping a hidden 3% surcharge on all concession items. 

According to the report the surcharge is  “to offset the employee wages and benefits” that must be paid to airport workers, but none of the money actually goes to employees. 

View From The Wing then asks the astute question: “You might ask, why allow vendors to charge people more than the marked prices, instead of just raising prices?”

And you already know the answer, right? It’s because the airport doesn’t let them raise prices, stating that “operators are only permitted to charge up to 15% more than a comparable street-side unit”.

What’s Six Flags’ excuse?

 

Authored by Summer Lane via The Epoch Times,

A measure seeking to ban forced prison labor and formally prohibit slavery in California will be on the November ballot.

Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 8 would change the California Constitution to prohibit the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from disciplining any incarcerated person for refusing a work assignment. It would also prohibit “slavery in any form.”

“Forced labor has no redeeming qualities and is inconsistent with California’s respect for human dignity,” the amendment reads.

The measure was introduced by Democratic Assemblymember Lori Wilson in February 2023. It passed June 27 in the Senate with only three opposition votes from Republican Sens. Brian Dahle, Roger Niello, and Kelly Seyarto.

Their offices were not available for comment.

The measure passed the same day 68–0 in the Assembly.

“This historic measure will now be presented to the voters of California, giving them the power to decide on ending slavery and involuntary servitude in our state Constitution,” Ms. Wilson said in a statement Thursday after the two votes.

ACLU California Action argued in a position statement, in favor of the amendment, that the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution failed in abolishing slavery.

“Hundreds of thousands of people are still living in involuntary servitude due to an ‘exception clause’ that allows free labor for punishment of a crime,” they wrote.

The possible amendment of the California Constitution is part of the “Reparations Priority Bill Package” introduced by the California Legislative Black Caucus in January.

The package includes 14 bills centered on civil rights, criminal justice reform, and health and business matters for black Californians written in response to a 2023 report from the state’s Reparations Task Force, tasked by the Legislature to survey “ongoing and compounding harms experienced by African Americans as a result of slavery.”

The report offered statewide reparations recommendations.

Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, an advocacy group working to end what it calls structural racism in the justice system, has also supported ACA 8.

“For the first time in California’s tarnished history around slavery, Black Americans and Indigenous people will be able to vote against slavery,” the organization wrote in a statement.

Although the bill had broad support among lawmakers, there are some criticisms.

Brian James, a former California state prison inmate who spent 29 years behind bars after being convicted of second-degree murder, said he disagrees with the measure.

“I believe work should be enforced,” he told The Epoch Times July 2.

Released in 2022, Mr. James, who also recently appeared on EpochTV’s “California Insider” on the topic of prison life, said working was an integral part of being incarcerated and said inmates are needed to do tasks like yard maintenance, plumbing work, electrical work, and cooking.

“Inmates run the entire facility,” he said.

Most convicted persons enter prison and are assigned jobs based on their education and experience, he said.

“If you don’t have a high school diploma, they will put you in school,” he said.

He described prison labor as “a point of dignity” rather than slavery. He also highlighted the “value of work” and said prisoners were “supposed to [be] gaining the skills to go back into society.”

The ballot measure needs more than a 50 percent yes vote to pass.

Via Middle East Eye

Last autumn, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi gave a speech in the New Administrative Capital in Cairo, the $300bn project that will ultimately define his presidency. 

He said hunger was a small price to pay for progress: “If progress, prosperity and development come at the price of hunger and deprivation, Egyptians, do not shy away from progress! Don’t dare say: ‘It is better to eat.'” This horrifying vision of hunger and deprivation is what awaits millions of Egyptians in the coming years. 

A decade after ascending to the presidency, Sisi has pushed the economy to the brink of collapse. The symptoms are everywhere. A severe debt crisis is strangling the state budget, the economy is heavily militarized, billions have been invested in white elephants with dubious economic benefits, and the crown jewels of the Egyptian public sector are up for sale to meet mounting debt obligations. 

This all stems from the military’s desire to consolidate power and wealth in its own hands at any cost. This will have dire consequences that will be felt for generations – and recovery will take a mammoth effort.

Millions more people have been pushed into poverty in recent years, a trend that is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. In 2022, the poverty rate reached 33 percent, up from 26 percent in 2012/13, as the regime continues its policy of shifting the costs of the debt crisis onto the poor and middle classes. 

The most obvious manifestation of this is the regime’s austerity measures – most crucially, the 300 percent increase in the price of subsided bread, the staple food for the most vulnerable people, which was announced in May. 

Transferring wealth

This comes on the heels of price hikes for basic commodities, announced by the government in January. These measures are part of a comprehensive policy designed to transfer wealth from the poor and middle classes to the regime elites and their creditors. 

The logic is simple: increased spending on mega-projects, financed by high-interest debt, has allowed the military to rapidly expand its economic footprint, while the repayment of debt is financed through the appropriation of public resources, which is in turn financed by a regressive taxation system. 

This creates a diabolical cycle of structural poverty that is very difficult to escape. A cursory look at the current budget highlights this trend, with the main source of tax revenue deriving from a regressive consumption tax, yielding 828 billion Egyptian pounds ($17bn); in second position comes the tax collected from corporate profits, standing at a mere 239 billion pounds ($5bn). It is worth noting that 62 percent of budgetary expenditures will be consumed by debt obligations.

The increase in poverty will be accompanied by another structural transformation, namely the increased peripheralization of the Egyptian economy, which will become even more vulnerable to external shocks and to the goodwill of the regime’s allies. 

The figures from the past decade are a testament to this. Despite a spending spree that has consumed hundreds of billions of dollars, the competitiveness of the Egyptian economy has not improved, nor has its industrial base. The contribution of the industrial sector to the GDP fell from around 40 percent in 2013 to 33 percent in 2022, a dramatic drop. 

In terms of export performance, Egypt’s current account balance remains firmly in negative territory, deteriorating from minus two percent in 2013, to an expected minus six percent in 2024, based on data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This negative trend is expected to continue until at least 2029, based on the IMF’s available forecast. 

Financing gap

This means that in the medium term, pressure will continue on the country’s foreign reserves, which in turn will apply pressure on the deteriorating value of the pound. The situation is compounded by the debt crisis, which is consuming much of the state budget, making public investments to increase economic competitiveness very unlikely. 

Indeed, the debt burden is so large that even after receiving more than $50bn in recent loans and investment, the financing gap is still estimated to stand at $28.5bn. This means that in the foreseeable future, the Egyptian economy will require continued external support, in the form of loans and investments, in order to maintain a semblance of stability. 

You will find more infographics at Statista

The most notable example is the $35bn investment by the UAE, announced in February, which was critical for avoiding a possible default or debt restructuring – that is, assuming the regime will be able to rein in public spending and put the brakes on its cronyism. Unfortunately, there are signs that this is not the case. 

In May, the Egyptian army’s Engineering Authority announced its intention to continue with the third phase of the South Valley development project, which aims to reclaim around 40,000 to 60,000 acres by 2025. It is worth noting that in spite of several large reclamation projects of this kind, the contribution of agriculture to the country’s GDP dropped from around 11.3 percent in 2013 to 11 percent in 2022.  

Thus, in all likelihood, the Egyptian economy’s dependence on external capital flows is set to deepen, leaving it susceptible to external shocks, the fickleness of regional politics, and the whims of international financial markets.

Grave consequences

The increased influence of Gulf capital in the Egyptian economy comes with grave economic consequences. Last September, an Emirati firm acquired a 30 percent stake in the government-owned Eastern Company, which controls 70 percent of the country’s tobacco market. The deal was valued $625m. The UAE has also financed the sale of a number of historic hotels for $800m. 

This trend will only deepen the structural dependence of the Egyptian economy by depriving the government of important sources of pubic revenue, further straining public finances. This will continue to erode living standards, weaken the pound and send inflation soaring, while also strengthening the political alliance between the regime and its Gulf backers, creating further obstacles for the prospects of democratisation or improvements to workers’ rights.

The future of the Egyptian economy seems grim. Even if the prospect of debt default has subsided for now, the consequences of a decade of foolish economic policy have not. 

The ongoing process of peripheralization will enrich a number of local elites, who will align themselves with these new realities. This is not limited to military elites, who will continue to benefit from the inflow of loans and capital, but it will also include civilian elites – the most notable example being Hisham Talaat Moustafa, an Egyptian real-estate tycoon and convicted murderer with close connections to the UAE. A partner in the historic hotels deals, his company’s profits reportedly jumped in the first quarter of 2024 by 220 percent.  

Egypt is now undergoing a mass structural transformation, with millions of people plunged into poverty and wealth accumulating in the hands of a few, namely the military elites and their cronies. This transformation will have long-term consequences that are extremely difficult to predict. What is clear, however, is that the economic damage done by the regime goes beyond the debt crisis – and it will take years to reverse.

An early Wednesday morning explosion rocked the General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems facility in Camden, Arkansas, injuring at least two people and leaving one person missing.

Local media outlet Camden News quoted General Dynamics in a statement as saying: 

“Today at 8:15 am CDT, an incident involving pyrotechnics occurred at the General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems facility in Camden, Arkansas. At this time, we are working with first responders and can confirm the incident resulted in at least two injuries and one missing individual.”

The 880,000-square-foot weapons factory, located about 86 miles south of Little Rock, is a “leader in the high-rate production” of weapons, including “Hydra-70 2.75-inch rocket, Hellfire and Javelin missiles, the Modular Artillery Charge System and various mortar munitions,” according to the defense firm’s website. 

Berkley Whaley, General Dynamics’ spokesperson, told local media outlet Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the incident was related to “pyrotechnics” and clarified that it indicated explosives.

Alleged video of the incident surfaced on X this afternoon. 

BREAKING: An explosion took place at a General Dynamics plant in Arkansas, a manufacturer of military and aerospace equipment. pic.twitter.com/8eTx2TC8Ud

— The General (@GeneralMCNews) July 3, 2024

Whaley declined to answer questions about whether the facility had been damaged, citing an ongoing investigation. 

Meanwhile, US defense companies have been ramping up weapons production (read: here) to arm Ukraine and Israel and replenish depleted Pentagon stocks. There is no word yet on how the disruption in Camden will affect overall US supplies of Hellfire and Javelin missiles. 

In their second face-to-face meeting in as many months, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that “Russian-Chinese relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation are in the best period of their history.” Russian state media subsequently likened it to a golden age in relations.

The two are meeting once again at the annual session of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which runs Wednesday through Thursday in the Kazakh capital of Astana. “Russia-China relations are on the highest level in history, and they are not aimed against anyone, we do not create blocs or unions, we just act in the interests of our nations,” Putin stressed.

And Xi told Putin in brief opening remarks, “In the face of the turbulent international situation and external environment, the two sides should continue to uphold the original aspiration of friendship for generations to come.”

Still, the reality is that the two are coming closer based ultimately on countering the US, while also vying for influence among other Central Asian SCO bloc countries, which includes the ex-Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Those are among the founding members alongside Russian and China, while India and Pakistan joined in 2017, and Iran was welcomed as the newest member last year.

Collectively the SCO countries account for some 20% of global GDP, and importantly many of them have remained uncooperative with US-led sanctions related to punishing Moscow over the war in Ukraine.

“I would like to recall that our countries were behind the creation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,” Putin continued in his remarks to Xi. He said the SCO has “strengthened its role as one of the key pillars of a fair multipolar world order.”

The bloc is looking to expand in the coming years and decades, as currently over a dozen countries hold SCO dialogue-partner status, allowing them also to be observers at the summit. Belarus is a notable close ally of Russia’s which is soon set to join. It too is under US and EU sanctions related to the war in Ukraine, given its close defense cooperation with Moscow.

Some social media commenters have underscored that the world is laughing at the US amid the chaos and controversy over Biden’s physical and mental capabilities…

Our Commander in Chief is a vegetable, being advised by a crackhead, and about to be replaced by a diversity hire.

MEANWHILE, Putin and Xi are at the SCO Summit in Kazakhstan, planning how to “bolster security and counter the US”.

They are licking their chops, while we implode. pic.twitter.com/MzJex6naFZ

— Clandestine (@WarClandestine) July 3, 2024

Meanwhile there are reports that Xi told the conference that China is on the “right side of history” in Ukraine. This is not the first time he’s said this phrase (for example, he also said it back in March of 2023), but it comes at a moment Ukraine’s President Zelensky has been urging that China take a lead role in achieving ceasefire and peace.

Zelensky’s office has reiterated this week, however, that the “value of any plan lies in the nuances and in taking into account the real state of affairs on the ground.” China has long had its own Ukraine peace formula published, yet it has maintained that any legitimate international peace summit must include Russian representation to be impactful (the recent Swiss-hosted summit did not).

Authored by John Haughey via The Epoch Times,

Americans are projected to travel in record numbers, spend more than ever, and endure searing temperatures and violent thunderstorms in many areas when they commemorate the nation’s 248th Independence Day on Thursday.

Heat and storms aside, they will, nevertheless, celebrate.

From Boston’s Harborfest to San Diego’s Big Bay Boom, from Seattle’s Seafair to Miami’s Celebration in Peacock Park, on small town Main Streets and in neighborhood backyards between, there will be patriots on parade, grills blazing, music in the air, and fire in the sky on July 4.

The red, white, and blue festivities will range from the traditional, such as Philadelphia’s Fourth of July Jam—“the largest free concert in America”—to the quirky, including “Best Tail Wag” in Bryson Creek, North Carolina.

There will be rodeos—the Cody (Wyoming) Stampede—muskets and cannon in historic reenactments in places like Put-In-Bay, Ohio, a full slate of Major League Baseball games on tap, and, of course barbecues where, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, more than 150 million hot dogs nationwide will be consumed.

But Joey Chestnut won’t be eating any, at least not competitively. For the first time in 19 years, the 16-time champion won’t be woofing down dogs—he ate 62 in 10 minutes in 2023—in the annual July 4 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York.

Mr. Chestnut was banned from defending his title after signing a sponsorship deal with Impossible Foods, a rival brand that sells plant-based hot dogs.

There should be no such controversy to digest, however, at the July 4 World Famous Key Lime Pie Eating World Championship in Key West, Florida.

WalletHub’s annual ranking of “best and worst places for 4th of July celebrations” cites Los Angeles, New York City, Seattle, Las Vegas, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, as the top five places to enjoy July 4 festivities.

But for a less urban, more Main Street USA perspective, American Flags, Inc., based in West Bay Shore, New York, offers the 20 Best Small Town Fourth of July Celebrations where “quaint and quirky” festivities in Flagstaff, Arizona; Lambertville, New Jersey; Homer, Alaska; Virginia City, Nevada; Bristol, Rhode Island; and Washington, Georgia, are among those highlighted.

More than 11,000 people will officially become Americans on July 4 in 195 naturalization ceremonies between June 28 and July 5 with many symbolically scheduled for July 4, according to the United States Citizenship & Immigration Service.

Citizens will take the oath on July 4 from Misawa Air Base, Japan, to Mesa, Arizona, to Des Moines, Iowa, to Sturbridge, Massachusetts, to Apopka, Florida.

Fireworks shoot from the Hatch Shell during rehearsal for the annual Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular on the Esplanade in Boston on July 3, 2016. (Michael Dwyer/AP Photo)

Record Hitting The Road

According to the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) Independence Day Data Center, 87 percent of American consumers plan to celebrate the Fourth of July in 2024 and will spend an average of $90.42 each on food items.

NRF estimates Americans will spend a record $9.4 billion just on food to be eaten on July 4, with 66 percent eating in barbecues and cookouts, 44 percent saying they plan to attend fireworks/community celebrations, 13 percent going to parades, and 12 percent looking forward to getting away from it all for a four-day weekend vacation.

Another 31 percent of NRF respondents said they would buy “patriotic items” to decorate homes or wear on July 4.

The American Pyrotechnics Association projected in late June that Americans would spend $2.4 billion during “fireworks season,” which peaks in the days before July 4, nearly $100 million more than last year.

The average cost of fireworks is down between 5 and 10 percent this year compared to last year, the association said, attributing the decline to lower ocean shipping rates.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, only Massachusetts bans all fireworks use by private citizens, meaning the only legal public fireworks displays must be sanctioned and supervised by state or local officials.

The American Automobile Association (AAA) estimates “more people than ever will be taking to the highways” this July 4th weekend, with 60.6 million traveling by car and 5.74 million flying to destinations.

That’s up from 57.8 million who traveled by car in 2023 and above the pre-pandemic 55.3 million who traveled via car over the July 4th holiday period in 2019, AAA estimates.

“With summer vacations in full swing and the flexibility of remote work, more Americans are taking extended trips around Independence Day,” AAA Senior Vice President Paula Twidale said in a statement. “We anticipate this July 4th week will be the busiest ever.”

The AAA notes that gas prices are slightly lower nationwide this year than last, when the national average was $3.56 a gallon. That average this year was $3,50 a gallon as of June 27, it said.

AccuWeather forecasts“storms for some, hot as a firecracker for others” across much of the Lower 48 states on July 4.

California’s Central Valley will see highs between 100 and 110 degrees. Sacramento, California, projects it could top its July 4 record of 107 degrees.

Southern California, Nevada, and Arizona desert high temperatures could top 115 degrees. Las Vegas could come within a couple degrees of its hottest-ever Independence Day, with temps topping 112 degrees.

AccuWeather also forecasts the South will “bake,” with parts of Texas and Oklahoma set to reach into the low 100s and temperatures in Atlanta expected to reach the mid-90s.

Thunderstorms bulling up the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys could bring late-afternoon and evening relief—but potentially spawn tornadoes—in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, it warns, while storms could disrupt fireworks displays in Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and New York City that evening.

About eight months after Iran-backed Houthi rebels began seriously disrupting maritime traffic in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, June recorded the highest number of missile and drone attacks on commercial vessels this year and the second-largest since December. As instability in the Middle East intensifies, Houthi rebels have sunk one commercial vessel in recent weeks and have introduced kamikaze drone boats to their arsenal. 

Despite efforts of the US, British, and European navies sailing in the critical maritime chokepoint, attempting to ensure freedom of navigation, the Houthis managed to conduct 16 confirmed attacks on commercial vessels in June, according to Bloomberg, citing new data from naval forces operating in the Middle East.

The surge in attacks is alarming, considering President Biden’s Operation Prosperity Guardian, launched at the start of this year to ensure freedom of navigation, has been without success in neutralizing threats and restoring security for commercial shipping. Instead, the consequence of failure has been emerging supply chain snarls and supply shocks, resulting in soaring containerized shipping rates. 

“The Houthis have proven to be quite the formidable force. This is a nonstate actor that fields a larger arsenal and is really able to give a headache to the Western coalition,” said Sebastian Bruns, a naval expert at the Center for Maritime Strategy and Security and the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University in Germany, who was quoted by Foreign Policy. 

Bruns said, “This is as high-end as it gets for now, and when navies are having a problem with sustainment at this level, it is really worrisome.”

So, eight months on, the disruption to the critical shipping lane is getting a lot worse as rebels have expanded their use of uncrewed service vessels to attack commercial vessels. These are much harder to track than anti-ship missiles. 

And the Houthis aren’t the only problem.

A European naval commander told Bloomberg that criminal groups have reinvigorated piracy networks off the Somalia coast.

Pirates “think there is a window of opportunity due to the Houthis’ presence,” with increased maritime traffic along Somalia’s coast due to commercial vessels re-reouting from the Red Sea to Cape of Good Hope, said Vice Admiral Ignacio Villanueva, who commands a European Union operation tasked with curbing piracy, adding, “They are really trying to stretch the Western, international operations’ limits and capabilities.”

The world is dangerously ablaze as Biden’s foreign policy decisions backfire. Even before Biden, the world was fracturing into a multipolar state, one full of conflict. Now, Biden faces calls from within his own party to step down amidst speculation over his cognitive decline. This is not a great look for America. 

Authored by James Rickards via DailyReckoning.com,

It’s no secret that the vast majority of the so-called elites are advocates of climate alarmism and are taken in by the Green New Scam.

Whether this preference is based on ignorance of the science, ideological zeal, a willful desire to hurt American growth or simple greed because of their investments in Green New Scam infrastructure varies case by case.

The typical upper-income supporter of the climate cult including academics, media figures and celebrities is probably ignorant of the fact that there is no evidence that CO2 emissions cause climate change and that the real causes are solar cycles, volcanoes, ocean currents and atmospheric moisture not caused by humans.

Climate Alarmists Have It Backward

The historical record actually demonstrates that warming periods produce higher CO2 levels — not the other way around. CO2 doesn’t cause warming. It’s caused by natural warming.

In other words, climate alarmists have causation completely backward.

Climate alarmism is based almost entirely on computer models, which depend on the inputs the modelers themselves build into them. A model is only as good as the inputs and assumptions programmed into it.

Virtually every one of these models has overestimated warming, sometimes by orders of magnitude, because it’s based on faulty assumptions that overestimate the impact of CO2 on climate.

In other words, it’s junk science. But they keep relying on these models because their political agenda requires it.

Climate: The New Communism

There’s no doubt that a fair number of neo-Marxists embrace the climate scam because they know it damages U.S. industry, raises costs to U.S. consumers and helps to undermine the U.S. economy.

Following the end of the Cold War and the collapse of communism, anti-capitalistic collectivists admitted that they needed to promote the climate agenda because the only way to combat global warming is through collective action. It requires a coordinated global effort that limits national sovereignty.

The neo-Marxists are impervious to evidence; they just want to hurt America and wasting money on windmills instead of building new refineries is a good way to do it. That leaves the greed crowd.

The Real “Green” in the Green Agenda

They’re early investors in windmills, solar modules, lithium car batteries, EVs, charging stations, carbon credits and other infrastructure of the climate scam. They stand to make billions of dollars off the narrative with help from extravagant government subsidies.

They don’t really care if it all collapses in the end (which it will) as long as they get rich at taxpayer expense in the meantime. All of this behavior is clear as far as it goes. What is not clear is the extent to which the Green New Scammers are doing this with your money.

The best example is multibillionaire Larry Fink, who runs the giant BlackRock investment fund. Fink has been aggressive in promoting the climate scam along with racial quotas, DEI and defunding police.

He’s entitled to his opinions. But is he entitled to pursue his radical agenda with pension fund money from conservative states and institutions? Fortunately, a backlash has begun against Fink and his fellow wokesters.

More state pension fund managers are beginning to pull their funds from BlackRock and other investment managers that pursue far-left policies not in the best interests of their beneficiaries. This backlash may not change Larry Fink’s lifestyle. But over time, it might change the world for the better.

The EV Sham

A major part of the climate agenda includes electric vehicles (EVs). I’ve been warning for years that EVs aren’t feasible as a transportation solution for more than relatively few Americans and that they are little more than glorified golf carts despite the $70,000-and-up price tags.

In the first place, EVs don’t cut carbon emissions. The car itself does not have emissions, but it’s charged with electricity from power plants that do.

The batteries are made with poisonous chemicals and metals including lithium, cobalt, copper and nickel that come from mining operations that use enormous amounts of water and electricity to extract the needed materials.

It takes thousands of tons of ore to extract enough critical minerals to make one battery. EVs don’t take a charge in extreme cold, and the batteries can’t hold a charge. Travel range is grossly overstated for many reasons, including the fact that EV car heaters drain the batteries (with internal-combustion engines, ICEs, the engine makes heat which can easily be directed into the car to keep passengers comfortable with no additional energy required).

Resale values of EVs are close to zero because buyers of used EVs have to shell out $25,000 or more for new batteries after the vehicle is about seven years old. The list of drawbacks goes on.

Most Americans have resisted EVs because they understand the disadvantages. But many Americans were drawn to the false promise of emission-free transportation and other ridiculous claims by the Green New Scammers. Now even the most committed EV buyers are waking up.

I Want My ICE Car Back

A new survey by consulting firm McKinsey and Co. shows that 29% of EV owners in nine major economies want to return to ICE vehicles. When the sample is narrowed to just the U.S., 46% of those surveyed want to return to ICEs.

The McKinsey officials who conducted the survey claim to be “surprised” by those results. That probably says something about the fact that McKinsey experts are just as deluded about EVs as the buyers surveyed.

When breaking down the results, 45% say EVs are too expensive, 33% say they have charging concerns and 29% are concerned about the limited driving range.

The truth is that the EV was invented in 1837 and reached the peak of its popularity in 1910 just before the mass production of internal-combustion cars by Henry Ford. The American public got it right when they flocked to the Model T.

It sounds like they’re getting it right again after a brief infatuation with the false promise of the EV. The bottom line is that the Green New Scam is falling apart.

It can’t happen soon enough.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Hurricane Center (NHC) downgraded Hurricane Beryl to a Category 4 storm from a Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale on Wednesday morning. Beryl is the earliest hurricane on record to strengthen into a Category 5 as it churns across the southeastern Caribbean Sea. It is forecasted to hit the Yucatán Peninsula on Friday and afterward poses a threat to US oil and energy critical infrastructure on the Gulf Coast.

NHC said Beryl’s winds peaked at about 157 mph before weakening to 145 mph on Wednesday morning. Government weather forecasters expect “some weakening” of the storm over the “next day or two,” however, it will still be a “major hurricane” as it impacts “Jamaica on Wednesday and the Cayman Islands.”

On Wednesday, Mexico’s Meteorological Service posted a hurricane warning for the coast of the Yucatán peninsula from Puerto Costa Maya to Cancún, with forecasted landfall on Friday. 

After the Yucatán Peninsula, Beryl’s forecasted path heads directly to the Texas coast and is expected to move up towards Louisiana. This area is home to major US oil and gas refineries.

Ahead of the storm, Shell announced Wednesday that it paused some drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico. Here’s more from Bloomberg:

• Company also began evacuating non-essential personnel as precautionary measure

• Shell is also evacuating non-essential staff from the Whale asset, which is not scheduled to begin operations until later this year

• Production from the Shell-operated Perdido platform feeds into the HOOPS Blend, a medium sour oil with 29.2 API and 1.55% sulfur

• Oil from Perdido is delivered by the Hoover Offshore Oil Pipeline System (HOOPS) to the Quintana terminal, south of Freeport, Texas; from Quintana oil flows into the Houston refining hub but mainly to the Texas City area

“There remains uncertainty in the track and intensity forecast of Beryl over the western Gulf of Mexico this weekend. Interests in the western Gulf of Mexico, including southern Texas, should monitor the progress of Beryl,” NHC wrote in the most recent update. 

Computer models show the storm’s future path along the Texas coast, which is home to 32 oil refineries. Refineries are critical for processing crude into products such as gasoline and diesel.  

“We have to wait and see where it lands,” Mark Schieldrop, a spokesperson for the travel club AAA Northeast, told newspaper The Record. 

Schieldrop said, “But if the storm makes a direct hit to oil and gas infrastructure, it could cause prices to go up here if refineries down there are knocked offline for more than a few days.” 

At the start of hurricane season, we penned a note titled “La Nina Will Complicate Things For Biden Ahead Of Elections As Hurricanes Threaten Oil Refineries,” and that’s exactly what could happen next week. 

All it takes is one major hurricane to disrupt major US Gulf Coast refineries, which could drive average gasoline prices at the pump to the politically sensitive level of $4 a gallon. 

Currently, AAA average prices of gas at the pump stand at… 

If Beryl causes refinery closures on the US Gulf Coast, the Biden team will have a whole lot more issues to deal with (currently, it’s just chaos in Washington: “”No One Is Pushing Me Out” Biden Tells Staff As New NYT Poll Shows Trump Lead Widening”).

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

Let’s discuss the latest BLS report on employer costs with a special focus on teachers.

Employer costs from the BLS, chart by Mish

Employer Cost Synopsis

• Government Wages Plus Benefits: $61.27

• Private Wages and Benefits: $43.78

• Government Wages: $37.90

• Private Wages: $30.76

Government hourly wages are 23.2 percent more than private workers on average.

Benefits are the real killer.

Government total compensation is 39.9 percent more than private workers.

What About Teachers?

Employer costs from the BLS, chart by Mish

Teachers make $37.90 per hour in direct wages. But they make a whopping $79.38 per hour in total benefits.

Benefits for teachers are a mere 109 percent of wages.

Economic Fairness

Education Week reports Biden Calls for Teacher Pay Raises, Expanded Pre-K in State of the Union

Biden called on lawmakers Thursday to “give every child a good start by providing access to pre-school for 3- and 4-year-olds,” but he did not detail a specific plan to pay for universal pre-kindergarten, which he has called for in the past and included in his Build Back Better proposal that never passed the Senate.

Biden’s call for giving public school teachers a raise also included no specifics. It was included in a portion of the address focused on economic fairness, which included a push to raise taxes on the highest income earners to help cover the costs of domestic policy priorities.

There’s no better place to start when it comes to deserving teachers than the city of Chicago.

NEW: Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates says the union’s contract demands from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson will cost the city more than $50 billion. ⬇️

“$50 billion dollars and three cents…”

“And so what?”

“That’s audacity.”

For context, total base tax… pic.twitter.com/EZesxJV2Xw

— Austin Berg (@Austin__Berg) March 5, 2024

And Who Will Pay?

Reminder that Davis Gates has refused to give her own members an audit of union finances for more than four years despite union bylaws requiring those audits, and hiking dues by 13%.https://t.co/ZzpNztalhY

— Austin Berg (@Austin__Berg) March 5, 2024

Chicago Teachers’ Union Seeks $50 Billion Despite $700 Million City Deficit

On March 13, I commented Chicago Teachers’ Union Seeks $50 Billion Despite $700 Million City Deficit

“Stop asking that question,” she said. “Ask another question.”

This is in a city, mind you, that already spends an astonishing $29,000 per student, including all sources and money for the capital budget. And Chicago Public Schools already faces a $391 million deficit for next and nearly $700 million for the following year when “Covid relief” money will have run out.

The only way to stop this behavior is to eliminate the public unions, totally.

Unfortunately, a corrupt Chicago mayor is in bed with the corrupt CTU. And the state is the most gerrymandered state in the nation. Springfield is in on the act.

What Are the Odds Police Show Up?

On July 2, I noted In Chicago There’s Under a 50 Percent Chance Police Show Up If You are Shot

Good luck in Chicago getting the police to show up if you are shot, stabbed, a victim of domestic violence, or any number of other serious crimes.

Don’t worry. Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson will fix the problem by hiking property taxes to give money to the Teachers’ Union.

And instead of going anything about crime, Johnson Seeks Slave Reparations.

Public Unions Have No Business Existing: Even FDR Admitted That

To understand why public unions should never exist, please see Public Unions Have No Business Existing: Even FDR Admitted That

Chicago has an amazing propensity to keep electing mayors worse than the last one. Brandon Johnson is the worst Chicago mayor ever.

In Illinois, as in California, there is really only one thing sensible you can do about this setup. Leave.