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“You Can’t Do That To People”: Virginia Gas Station Charges Almost $7 Per Gallon

“You Can’t Do That To People”: Virginia Gas Station Charges Almost $7 Per Gallon

Hours after Virginia governor Ralth Northam declared a state of emergency, one BP gas station was caught charging extortion-level prices on Tuesday amid the lamest ‘gas crisis’ in recent memory caused by the Colonial Pipeline hack.

One customer, Lether Kerney, wasn’t paying attention when she pulled up to the BP gas station on Williamsburg Road – which was charging $5.99 per gallon – shortly before it jumped another dollar to $6.99 per gallon.

“I had half a tank of gas, so when it got to $25, I started looking to see what was going on. And after I got to $30, I was like, ‘oh my God! I spent $35.45 to fill up my tank. Six gallons of gas for $35. That’s absolutely ridiculous,” she said, adding “Usually, it’s under $3.00. This BP service station has always been the cheapest, and I didn’t even look at the price before I started pumping.“

Another customer who goes by ‘Cha Cha’ told KMOV4 that she lives blocks away from the gas station and watched as the price continued to rise.

“I live two blocks from here, and it was $4.99,” she said. “So, then I drove up the road to get gas at a $2.99 gas station, came back through here, it was $5.99. And now it’s $6.59.”

A few minutes later, it was $6.99.

“You can’t do that to people,” said Cha Cha.

 When the station went to the gas station to follow up, the sign was turned off and they said they were completely out of gas.

Tyler Durden
Thu, 05/13/2021 – 17:00

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/3tKcw8E Tyler Durden

Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry Admits Pipelines Are Carbon-Delivery-Efficient


pipestopsnewscom

At a congressional hearing yesterday, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) asked Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, “Isn’t it true the pipelines are more carbon-delivery-efficient than trains or trucks or other forms of delivery?” Kerry responded, “Yeah, that is true. I think that is true, but it doesn’t mean you necessarily want to be adding another line when there are other alternatives. But is it better than train, and better than that? Yes, it is.”

The envoy is correct.

A 2017 National Bureau of Economic Research study compared the greenhouse gas emissions and spills associated with transporting crude oil from North Dakota to the Gulf Coast via trains and via pipelines. It found that pipelines are much more carbon-delivery-efficient:

In the wake of the ransomware shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline and the resulting East Coast fuel delivery chaos, some in the Twitterverse and in right-wing media outlets have been accusing Kerry and the Biden administration of hypocrisy, given the president’s executive order revoking the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline extension. (The stated aim of the order was to protect the climate from the greenhouse gases that would have been emitted from the burning Canadian tar sands oil.) They have a point, since tar sands crude is now being shipped via rail. There is, however, one relevant difference between the two pipelines: Since the Keystone XL would have transported unrefined tar sands petroleum from Canada to the Gulf Coast refineries, it would have had no direct effect on delivering gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel to consumers in the U.S.

Opponents of the Keystone, Mountain Valley, and Atlantic Coast pipelines used the absurdly convoluted energy infrastructure permitting process to stall and kill those projects. They will rue the day when the same process is deployed against energy supply infrastructure they favor, such as vast wind and solar generation facilities and the extensive new high-voltage power lines that will be needed to transport renewable electricity from remote locations to cities.

Ultimately, building better and more extensive energy supply networks is the best guarantee against future fuel and electricity disruptions.

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The Infernal Revenue Service

The Infernal Revenue Service

Authored by Cal Thomas. op-ed via The Epoch Times,

Thanks to the beneficence of the Internal Revenue Service—and the fallout from COVID-19—we half of Americans who pay federal income taxes have been given until May 17 to file.

Since I began earning enough to file Form 1040 and associated forms, I have only known one person who prepared his own taxes. That was Bill Archer, a Texas Republican who formerly headed the House Ways and Means Committee. I once asked Archer why he prepared his. His reply was that not only did he think it was fun, but because he helped write the tax code, he felt a responsibility to demonstrate competence in filling out the forms.

These days, the forms are so complicated, hardly anyone I know understands them. The instructions need instructions.

I have again filed jointly with my wife (more than 70 pages). She owns a business, so it is more complicated than if we filed separately. Still, the forms require translating a language I have never studied and wouldn’t want to. If you call the IRS and ask for help, you are still responsible for interest and penalties if they give the wrong advice.

How complicated is it? Here are just a few examples. Right off the top, I am threatened with prison should I knowingly fudge information on the form. The federal government does threats very well, including those read by flight attendants. Refuse to wear a mask, even if vaccinated, and you risk arrest. Don’t even think of tampering with the smoke detector. Even the post office is now spying on us.

How’s this for clarity from the estimated tax worksheet:

“Add lines 2a and 2b. Subtract line 2c from line 1. Figure your tax on the amount on line 3 by using the 2021 Tax Tables. Caution: If you will have qualified dividends or a net capital gain or expect to exclude or deduct foreign earned income or housing, see worksheets 2-5 and 2-6 in Pub. 505 to figure the tax.”

Got that?

There are schedules and forms for everything. They are nearly as numerous as the growing list of gender identities. Under Schedule D, Profits and Losses, there is this gibberish:

“Totals for all short-term transactions reported on Form 1099-B for which basis was reported to the IRS and for which you have no adjustments (see instructions). However, if you choose to report all these transactions on Form 8949, leave this line blank and go to line 1b.”

Say what?

No civilized society should force its citizens to go through this annual torture.

According to WorldAtlas.com, 12 countries have easier ways for their people to pay taxes than the United States. Britain has a pay-as-you-earn system (but also a nasty value added tax). The Tax Policy Center notes:

“At last count, 36 other countries, including Germany and Japan permit return-free filing for some taxpayers.”

The U.S. government takes in record amounts of revenue. The Biden administration wants more. The problem has never been revenue, but spending.

Not only do we need a simplified tax system, we also should invite an outside auditor to recommend the elimination of unnecessary, useless, outdated, and unconstitutional programs, agencies, and spending.

The problem is that those who write these abominable and indecipherable laws do so to give breaks to favored individuals and corporations. They contribute to their campaigns, corrupting many of them as they remain in office long past their “sell-by” date.

I would like to see members of Congress who write these tax laws forced to fill out the forms without help from an adviser. Put it on C-SPAN so we can watch them waste their time trying to figure it all out as many of the rest of us must do.

Now THAT would be fun.

Tyler Durden
Thu, 05/13/2021 – 16:45

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/3hosv9P Tyler Durden

How Congress Could Cement State-Level Progress on Occupational Licensing Reform


dreamstime_xl_142822834

Occupational licensing is supposed to protect consumers from harm, but often it seems to do little more than protect licenseholders from would-be competitors.

That was certainly the case in North Carolina, where a licensing board created to regulate dentistry tried to protect dentists from losing business to teeth-whitening services. After the Federal Trade Commission got involved, the U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled in 2015 that the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners had overstepped its authority.

That ruling, which threatened state-level licensing boards with the loss of antitrust immunity if they engaged in blatantly anti-competitive behavior, helped spur some state-level reforms in recent years. But there are still plenty of boards that enforce unnecessary rules regulating everything from hair-braiding to the dispensing of dietary advice. If there is no threat to public safety, is there a need for licensing at all?

Not so, says Rep. Darrell Issa (R–Calif), who reintroduced a bill that provides a pathway for states to reform licensing boards in order to be shielded from the threat of federal antitrust lawsuits.

“While some licenses ensure important safety standards,” Issa said in a press release, “far too many create unnecessary burdens for jobs no more risky than braiding hair, pet-sitting, or flower-arranging.”

Specifically, the Restoring Board Immunity Act would provide two pathways for states to follow. They could create new accountability measures for licensing boards within the state government—effectively giving executive branch officials a positive obligation to review and approve the behavior of boards that are usually allowed to do as they please. Or they can pass laws that would force courts to apply a higher degree of legal scrutiny to licensing boards’ actions, in the event that a board is hauled in front of a judge for approving anti-competitive rules.

Both are meant to prevent the sort of self-dealing that occurred in the North Carolina dental board case—and which is all too common for boards that are often controlled by the very businesses they are supposed to regulate.

All that red tape isn’t doing much to protect consumers, but it does seem to have an impact on employment. One in every four American jobs now requires a government-issued license, according to a recent report from the Council of State Governments. Morris Kleiner, a labor economist at the University of Minnesota, estimates that easing licensing rules could create 2 million more jobs nationally. And licensing also reduces economic mobility by making it harder for workers to move from state to state, since that often requires going through an expensive and time-consuming process to get licensed again.

At a time when lawmakers are particularly concerned about the unemployment rate and pushing Americans to get back to work in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, licensing laws remain a significant barrier, as Reason‘s Brian Doherty noted earlier this week.

Occupational licensing reform has enjoyed bipartisan love in recent years.

The Obama administration published a landmark report calling for states to reform licensing rules that make it harder for workers and entrepreneurs. The Trump administration sought to undo many other Obama-era policies, but in this case it nudged states to ease licensing rules, particularly for military spouses. More recently, Republican leaders have recognized the importance of licensing reforms as a part of the GOP’s attempt to reorient itself toward the working class. President Joe Biden has signaled his desire to “put an end to unnecessary occupational licensing requirements.” Both blue and red states have enacted changes to remove red tape for a wide range of workers, and a few states have even passed laws to accept out-of-state licenses without requiring retraining.

These are all steps in the right direction. Now Congress advance reform yet farther.

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How Congress Could Cement State-Level Progress on Occupational Licensing Reform


dreamstime_xl_142822834

Occupational licensing is supposed to protect consumers from harm, but often it seems to do little more than protect licenseholders from would-be competitors.

That was certainly the case in North Carolina, where a licensing board created to regulate dentistry tried to protect dentists from losing business to teeth-whitening services. After the Federal Trade Commission got involved, the U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled in 2015 that the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners had overstepped its authority.

That ruling, which threatened state-level licensing boards with the loss of antitrust immunity if they engaged in blatantly anti-competitive behavior, helped spur some state-level reforms in recent years. But there are still plenty of boards that enforce unnecessary rules regulating everything from hair-braiding to the dispensing of dietary advice. If there is no threat to public safety, is there a need for licensing at all?

Not so, says Rep. Darrell Issa (R–Calif), who reintroduced a bill that provides a pathway for states to reform licensing boards in order to be shielded from the threat of federal antitrust lawsuits.

“While some licenses ensure important safety standards,” Issa said in a press release, “far too many create unnecessary burdens for jobs no more risky than braiding hair, pet-sitting, or flower-arranging.”

Specifically, the Restoring Board Immunity Act would provide two pathways for states to follow. They could create new accountability measures for licensing boards within the state government—effectively giving executive branch officials a positive obligation to review and approve the behavior of boards that are usually allowed to do as they please. Or they can pass laws that would force courts to apply a higher degree of legal scrutiny to licensing boards’ actions, in the event that a board is hauled in front of a judge for approving anti-competitive rules.

Both are meant to prevent the sort of self-dealing that occurred in the North Carolina dental board case—and which is all too common for boards that are often controlled by the very businesses they are supposed to regulate.

All that red tape isn’t doing much to protect consumers, but it does seem to have an impact on employment. One in every four American jobs now requires a government-issued license, according to a recent report from the Council of State Governments. Morris Kleiner, a labor economist at the University of Minnesota, estimates that easing licensing rules could create 2 million more jobs nationally. And licensing also reduces economic mobility by making it harder for workers to move from state to state, since that often requires going through an expensive and time-consuming process to get licensed again.

At a time when lawmakers are particularly concerned about the unemployment rate and pushing Americans to get back to work in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, licensing laws remain a significant barrier, as Reason‘s Brian Doherty noted earlier this week.

Occupational licensing reform has enjoyed bipartisan love in recent years.

The Obama administration published a landmark report calling for states to reform licensing rules that make it harder for workers and entrepreneurs. The Trump administration sought to undo many other Obama-era policies, but in this case it nudged states to ease licensing rules, particularly for military spouses. More recently, Republican leaders have recognized the importance of licensing reforms as a part of the GOP’s attempt to reorient itself toward the working class. President Joe Biden has signaled his desire to “put an end to unnecessary occupational licensing requirements.” Both blue and red states have enacted changes to remove red tape for a wide range of workers, and a few states have even passed laws to accept out-of-state licenses without requiring retraining.

These are all steps in the right direction. Now Congress advance reform yet farther.

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Disney Tumbles On Subscriber, Revenue Miss

Disney Tumbles On Subscriber, Revenue Miss

After several impressive quarters of huge gains for its recently launched Disney+ subscription service, Disney couldn’t quite make it this time and moments ago the company reported Q1 earnings that beat on the bottom line but missed on revenues and subscribers, sending the stock sliding in after hours.

Here are the details: first the good news:

  • Adjusted EPS 79c, more than double the estimate of 32c

And now the bad:

  • Disney+ subscribers 103.6 million, estimate 110.3 million (Bloomberg Consensus)
  • Revenue $15.61 billion, estimate $15.85 billion (range $14.94 billion to $16.93 billion)

Similar to Netflix, the torrid growth of Disney+ is also stalling fast:

  • Nov 2019:   launches
  • Feb 2020:  29 million
  • Apr 2020:  50 million
  • May 2020: 55 million
  • Jun 2020:  58 million
  • Aug 2020: 61 million
  • Oct 2020:  74 million
  • Dec 2020: 87 million
  • Jan 2021:  95 million
  • Mar 2021: 100 million
  • Apr 2021: 104 million

The top-line breakdown showed softness in the media and entertainment distribution even as parks came in line:

  • Media and entertainment distribution revenue $12.44 billion, estimate $12.64 billion,
  • Parks, experiences and products revenue $3.17 billion, estimate $3.17 billion

Of note: had it note been for the 59% increase in direct to consumer revenue, Disney’s revenue would have been an ugly mess:

Despite the top-line miss, media and entertainment distribution operating income of $2.87 billion was $1 billion higher than the estimate of $1.87 billion, while parks, experiences and products operating loss $406 million was slightly higher than the estimated loss $369.4 million. Even so, both Operating and Free Cash Flow tumbled 56% and 67% respectively, YoY,.

Looking ahead, Disney said that costs “to address government regulations and implement safety measures for our employees, talent and guests” may total approximately $1 billion in fiscal 2021:

We have incurred, and will continue to incur, additional costs to address government regulations and implement safety measures for our employees, talent and guests. The timing, duration and extent of these costs will depend on the timing and scope of our operations as they resume. We currently estimate these costs may total approximately $1 billion in fiscal 2021. Some of these costs may be capitalized and amortized over future periods.

Commenting on the quarter, CEO Bob Chapek said that “we’re pleased to see more encouraging signs of recovery across our businesses, and we remain focused on ramping up our operations while also fueling long-term growth for the Company. This is clearly reflected in the reopening of our theme parks and resorts, increased production at our studios, the continued success of our streaming services, and the expansion of our unrivaled portfolio of multiyear sports rights deals for ESPN and ESPN+.”

Investor however did not share his enthusiasm and hammered the stock after hours.

 

 

 

 

Tyler Durden
Thu, 05/13/2021 – 16:25

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2RTvAE5 Tyler Durden

ACLU Study Finds Obama-Era Restrictions Failed To Slow Flow of Military Gear to Police


ferguson-sniper

Obama-era restrictions on the transfer of surplus military equipment to police departments failed to slow the flow of gear to police, according to a new analysis by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The study examines the Department of Defense’s 1033 program, through which police departments can receive free military surplus. The study found that, although the Obama administration limited some of the most controversial equipment, those restrictions were so narrow that they had little effect on the pipeline.

“The quantity of military transfers to local police departments has decreased over time following the slowing demobilization from war, but the Obama-era reforms have done little to keep dangerous military equipment off of America’s streets,” the report says. “And contrary to the claims of its supporters, 1033 does nothing to make communities or officers safer.”

The report comes as civil liberties groups press to end the 1033 program. The Hill reports that Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D–N.Y.), joined by 17 other House Democrats, is introducing legislation today that would completely repeal the 1033 program.

The 1033 provides surplus military equipment for free to law enforcement agencies. The majority of that stuff is mundane: things like filing cabinets, coffee makers, and cold-weather gear. But it also includes “controlled” items such as weapons and vehicles. From 2011 to 2014 alone, the program distributed more than 29,000 military-grade rifles, the report says.

Those law enforcement agencies include ones attached to K-12 schools and universities.

“Eighty institutions of higher education currently possess seven less-lethal firing devices, six mine-resistant vehicles, an armored truck, another combat vehicle, 159 shotguns and pistols, and 622 assault rifles,” the report says. “Nine K-12 schools’ police officers have 96 assault rifles, and one K-12 school—Spring Branch ISD—received a mine resistant vehicle in 2019.”

The Obama administration limited the program in 2015 amid growing public concern over police militarization. Iconic photographs from the 2014 protests in Ferguson, Missouri, showed police with armored vehicles, body armor, and military-grade rifles. The executive order prohibited the transfer of such items as camouflage, .50-caliber ammunition, tracked armored vehicles, grenade launchers, and bayonets. Police departments in possession of such materiel were asked to return the goods.

The return of equipment was unpopular with police departments. The Trump administration, which courted support from law enforcement, rescinded the executive order in 2017.

The ACLU’s study found that, despite the limitations, the 1033 program still transferred more than 100,000 controlled military items worth more than $576 million from the enactment of the 2015 reforms to their repeal in 2017.

“Very little equipment was actually banned by the [executive order], and even the equipment that the [executive order] specifically restricted does not appear to have decreased substantially, in large part because law enforcement agencies easily circumvented new oversight protocols,” the report says.

The ACLU points to incidents during last summer’s protests over the death of George Floyd, such as the time the Austin police critically injured a 20-year-old protester with a “less-lethal” weapon. At the time, the Austin Police Department had five such weapons in its possession that had been transferred through the 1033 program.

A study last year by Brown University’s Costs of War project found that $1.6 billion worth of controlled equipment is in circulation among U.S. police departments.

That includes 1,114 mine-resistant, armored-protective vehicles (MRAPs)—hulking armored personnel carriers designed to survive bomb blasts on the roads of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The ACLU recommends that the 1033 program be abolished. In the meantime, it says, President Joe Biden should place a moratorium on 1033 transfers and recall or destroy controlled equipment already in circulation.

Last month, more than two dozen House Democrats sent a letter to Biden urging him to sign an executive order placing limits on the program.

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Stocks Surge, Crypto Crushed, Commodity Fever Breaks As Lumber Slides For 3rd Day

Stocks Surge, Crypto Crushed, Commodity Fever Breaks As Lumber Slides For 3rd Day

It was an erratic day, which in so many ways was a mirror image of yesterday, and even though today’s blistering PPI print confirmed yesterday’s near-record CPI number, traders who expected a continuation of yesterday’s action were left nursing big losses.

Perhaps it was the fervent defense of the “transitory inflation” narrative on Wall Street, but whatever the reason, yesterday’s surge in the VIX reversed sharply, with the fear index tumbling from yesterday’s high of 29, sliding to session lows of 23.

This was enough to activate risk on mode in vol-targeting funds and momentum chasers, which saw spoos surge 90 points form a session low of 4030 to 4120 at the close…

… even as tech stocks found it more difficult to overcome gravity with the Nasdaq dipping into the red by mid-day only to rebound as we approached the close, with Bloomberg pointing out that after months of misery, the NYSE FANG index may be poised to blast off having formed a triple bottom around 6,100.

Helping the risk-on mood was not just the plunge in the VIX but also the sharp drop in yields, and despite a rather ugly, tailing 30Y auction,. the 5Y breakeven yield tumbled all day and was set to close below Tuesday’s low, completely fading yesterday’s CPI spike.

Which is not to say that all stocks were roaring higher: Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF, which from “do no wrong” has turned into the market’s Anti-Midas, tumbled again, dropping below $100 per share..

… as Tesla had another dismal day, sliding as much as 4% and headed for its worst week since March 2020, one day after Elon Musk shocked the market announcing he would no longer accept bitcoin “because it uses lots of electricity.” Elon, do you know what else uses lots of electricity…?

Nowhere is the pain as concentrated as in the index of profitless tech companies, where the slide has continued and after peaking in late February, the index is now down almost 40% from the highs!

There were also important developments in the commodity sector which many have been keeping an eye on recently to gauge upstream price pressures, with oil sliding after the reopening of the Colonial Pipeline (which merrily paid $5MM in crypto to its ransom-seeking hackers)…

… while the closely watched lumber price appears to have finally peaked, dropping limit down for the 3rd consecutive day as the commodity never managed to catch up to gold…

But the biggest highlight of today’s session was neither stocks, nor bonds, nor currencies, but crypto which had a dismal day, first after Musk’s tweet, then hit more after Bloomberg announced that Binance was being probed by the DOJ and IRS, and finally after Gasparino tweeted that regulators may be looking into crypto electricity consumption.

So with this confusing set up, one where commodity inflation appears to be peaking even as CPI and PPI are finally soaring leading to further tech stock revulsion, we look toward tomorrow’s potential data tiebreaker, the April retail sales, which as we noted earlier (using BofA card spending data) will likely be a big miss to consensus expectations. Whether that resets the reflation scare and whether growth stocks will surge as a result, is anyone’s guess.

Tyler Durden
Thu, 05/13/2021 – 16:01

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/3ybxT6c Tyler Durden

ACLU Study Finds Obama-Era Restrictions Failed To Slow Flow of Military Gear to Police


ferguson-sniper

Obama-era restrictions on the transfer of surplus military equipment to police departments failed to slow the flow of gear to police, according to a new analysis by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The study examines the Department of Defense’s 1033 program, through which police departments can receive free military surplus. The study found that, although the Obama administration limited some of the most controversial equipment, those restrictions were so narrow that they had little effect on the pipeline.

“The quantity of military transfers to local police departments has decreased over time following the slowing demobilization from war, but the Obama-era reforms have done little to keep dangerous military equipment off of America’s streets,” the report says. “And contrary to the claims of its supporters, 1033 does nothing to make communities or officers safer.”

The report comes as civil liberties groups press to end the 1033 program. The Hill reports that Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D–N.Y.), joined by 17 other House Democrats, is introducing legislation today that would completely repeal the 1033 program.

The 1033 provides surplus military equipment for free to law enforcement agencies. The majority of that stuff is mundane: things like filing cabinets, coffee makers, and cold-weather gear. But it also includes “controlled” items such as weapons and vehicles. From 2011 to 2014 alone, the program distributed more than 29,000 military-grade rifles, the report says.

Those law enforcement agencies include ones attached to K-12 schools and universities.

“Eighty institutions of higher education currently possess seven less-lethal firing devices, six mine-resistant vehicles, an armored truck, another combat vehicle, 159 shotguns and pistols, and 622 assault rifles,” the report says. “Nine K-12 schools’ police officers have 96 assault rifles, and one K-12 school—Spring Branch ISD—received a mine resistant vehicle in 2019.”

The Obama administration limited the program in 2015 amid growing public concern over police militarization. Iconic photographs from the 2014 protests in Ferguson, Missouri, showed police with armored vehicles, body armor, and military-grade rifles. The executive order prohibited the transfer of such items as camouflage, .50-caliber ammunition, tracked armored vehicles, grenade launchers, and bayonets. Police departments in possession of such materiel were asked to return the goods.

The return of equipment was unpopular with police departments. The Trump administration, which courted support from law enforcement, rescinded the executive order in 2017.

The ACLU’s study found that, despite the limitations, the 1033 program still transferred more than 100,000 controlled military items worth more than $576 million from the enactment of the 2015 reforms to their repeal in 2017.

“Very little equipment was actually banned by the [executive order], and even the equipment that the [executive order] specifically restricted does not appear to have decreased substantially, in large part because law enforcement agencies easily circumvented new oversight protocols,” the report says.

The ACLU points to incidents during last summer’s protests over the death of George Floyd, such as the time the Austin police critically injured a 20-year-old protester with a “less-lethal” weapon. At the time, the Austin Police Department had five such weapons in its possession that had been transferred through the 1033 program.

A study last year by Brown University’s Costs of War project found that $1.6 billion worth of controlled equipment is in circulation among U.S. police departments.

That includes 1,114 mine-resistant, armored-protective vehicles (MRAPs)—hulking armored personnel carriers designed to survive bomb blasts on the roads of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The ACLU recommends that the 1033 program be abolished. In the meantime, it says, President Joe Biden should place a moratorium on 1033 transfers and recall or destroy controlled equipment already in circulation.

Last month, more than two dozen House Democrats sent a letter to Biden urging him to sign an executive order placing limits on the program.

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Gold’s Recent Headwind Shifts To A Tailwind

Gold’s Recent Headwind Shifts To A Tailwind

Authored by Jesse Felder via TheFelderReport.com,

A couple of months ago, I wrote, “They call copper ‘doctor’ because he’s supposedly got a PhD in economics. And when it comes to inflation, it’s certainly true that he is far more accurate with his forecasts than the vast majority of economists. The recent breakout in the copper price suggests core inflation is likely too low at present and will soon begin to trend higher over the next couple of years.”

Yesterday’s CPI reading validates this view. Core inflation in April came in at nearly 3%, surpassing even most the aggressive forecasts. And while the economists at the Fed would encourage us to view this surge as “transitory,” copper prices would appear to suggest otherwise. According to the doctor, inflation should generally trend higher from its recent lows for a prolonged period of time.

A week after that earlier blog post on inflation, I wrote, “Recently, nominal interest rates have been rising faster than inflation creating a headwind for the gold price. However, there is good reason to believe that this trend could soon shift and become a strong tailwind for the gold price again.”

With inflation now rising much faster than interest rates, real rates have now fallen (inverted in the chart below) to a level that should be about as bullish for gold prices as anything we have seen in recent years.

So far, investors don’t seem to read it this way and the gold price is giving back some of its recent gains. However, should these nascent trends in inflation and interest rates prove to be more than “transitory,” as Dr. Copper would seem to suggest, it would appear that the gold price could be significantly undervalued at present.

Tyler Durden
Thu, 05/13/2021 – 15:40

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/3tFLfEh Tyler Durden