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Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

We live in a high crime society.  Nobody can dispute that fact, and it has been this way for a long time.  But the crime wave that we have witnessed in recent years has been truly breathtaking.  Tens of thousands of gangs are running wild in our major urban areas, and the growth of those gangs has been supercharged during the past four years thanks to the reckless border policies of the Biden administration.  Now we have rampant lawlessness in our streets, and it certainly isn’t going to be easy to clean up this mess.

The following are 15 facts about the growth of crime in the United States that will blow your mind…

#1 The number of shoplifting incidents per year in the United States is up 93 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels…

The average number of shoplifting incidents jumped 93% in 2023 compared with pre-pandemic times and monetary losses for retailers have risen 90%, according to the nation’s largest retail trade group.

With its “Impact of Retail Theft & Violence 2024” study, the National Retail Federation (NRF) is highlighting the severity of this issue. For instance, despite the continuous efforts by retailers to combat such crimes and a growing number of states that have updated their laws to prosecute organized retail crime as felonies, the number of retail theft incidents continues to climb.

#2 Bakersfield, California is the car theft capital of the country…

Bakersfield is a city with less than half a million people, making it the 9th most populous city in California. It also has the distinction of having the most car thefts of any U.S. city.

#3 Denver, Colorado is closing in on Bakersfield very quickly.  In fact, the car theft rate in Denver increased by 37 percent in just one year…

Denver is the capital and most populous city in Colorado which incidently made the NICB’s hot spot list for the top state by number of auto thefts. Not only did Denver experience 964 thefts per 100,000 residents, but the theft rate increased by 37%. As with most places, Kia and Hyundai vehicles make up a large percentage of those cars stolen.

#4 When it comes to car theft, Pueblo, Colorado only ranks third, but a 47 percent increase in just one year has it climbing the chart fast…

Well south of Denver and with a much smaller population, the city of Pueblo takes the third spot on our list. The city experienced auto theft at a rate of 891 per 100,000 residents. Additionally, the theft rate increased by a whopping 47% in one year. Pueblo police cite driver apathy as a reason behind the record levels of theft.

#5 According to the FBI, more than 14 million crimes are reported in the United States each year…

The FBI released detailed data on over 14 million criminal offenses for 2023 reported to the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program by participating law enforcement agencies. More than 16,000 state, county, city, university and college, and tribal agencies, covering a combined population of 94.3% inhabitants, submitted data to the UCR Program through the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) and the Summary Reporting System.

#6 There are more than 1.9 million people sitting in our prisons…

Further complicating matters is the fact that the U.S. doesn’t have one criminal legal system; instead, we have thousands of federal, state, local, and tribal systems. Together, these systems hold over 1.9 million people in 1,566 state prisons, 98 federal prisons, 3,116 local jails, 1,323 juvenile correctional facilities, 142 immigration detention facilities, and 80 Indian country jails, as well as in military prisons, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in the U.S. territories — at a system-wide cost of at least $182 billion each year.

#7 The U.S. has the largest prison population in the world by a very wide margin.  We have approximately 5 percent of the world’s population, but we have approximately 25 percent of the world’s incarcerated population.

#8 According to the FBI, 33,000 criminal gangs are operating inside the United States today…

Some 33,000 violent street gangs, motorcycle gangs, and prison gangs are criminally active in the U.S. today. Many are sophisticated and well organized; all use violence to control neighborhoods and boost their illegal money-making activities, which include robbery, drug and gun trafficking, prostitution and human trafficking, and fraud. Many gang members continue to commit crimes even after being sent to jail.

#9 Collectively, it has been estimated that those gangs have about a million members.

#10 Gangs account for about 80 percent of the violent crimes that are committed in the U.S. each year.

#11 In 2023, there were 127,436 rapes reported in the United States.

#12 For the most recent year that we have data, it was being estimated that more than 550,000 U.S. children “were victims of abuse and neglect”…

An estimated 558,899 children (unique incidents) were victims of abuse and neglect in the U.S. in 2022, the most recent year for which there is national data.

#13 If you can believe it, there are 795,000 registered sex offenders in this country.

More than 795,000 people were listed on state sex offender registries as of August 2024. This is about 8,000 more people than in 2023.

#14 There are 75,710 registered sex offenders in the state of Texas.

#15 There are 60,615 registered sex offenders in the state of California.

What in the world is wrong with us?

What would cause people to behave this way?

At this point, our society is literally teeming with evil.  In my brand new book entitled “Why”, I take a look at the root causes that motivate people to do what they do.  It isn’t an accident that our society has gone completely and utterly nuts.  It is simply a result of cause and effect.

As a society, we have been doing the wrong things for a very long time, and so now we have a giant mess on our hands.

Let us hope for better things in 2025, because right now lawlessness is thriving all around us.

*  *  *

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

The last week has seen sustained major Russian strikes involving drone and missile barrages targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. This followed a Ukrainian drone strike on a Russian residential building in Kazan, which is far away from the front lines.

Wednesday alone saw Russia fire some 170 drones and missiles at Ukrainian energy infrastructure, causing several deaths and widespread power outages. “The purpose of this outrageous attack was to cut off the Ukrainian people’s access to heat and electricity during winter and to jeopardize the safety of its grid,” Biden commented in the aftermath.

With a little over three weeks to go until President-Elect Donald Trump enters the White House, President Biden has ordered a ‘surge’ in US weapons to the Zelensky government. 

“In recent months, the United States has provided Ukraine with hundreds of air defense missiles, and more are on the way,” Biden said, and stressed:

“I have directed the Department of Defense to continue its surge of weapons deliveries to Ukraine, and the United States will continue to work tirelessly to strengthen Ukraine’s position in its defense against Russian forces.”

Biden also sought to emphasize the holiday the timing of the attack – though it should be noted that the Orthodox Church in both Russia and Ukraine observe Christmas on December 25th according to the Julian calendar, which is January 7th on the civil calendar. Thus Christmas in the region is actually still a week-and-a-half away…

“Launching large-scale missile and drone attacks on the day of the Lord’s birth is wrong,” Biden asserted. “The world is closely watching actions on both sides. The U.S. is more resolved than ever to bring peace to the region.”

Thursday saw Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responding to Biden’s warnings by saying the Kremlin could still order attacks on Ukraine’s decision-making centers.

“We select targets for strikes on the territory of Ukraine, proceeding solely from threats to Russia. These may be military facilities and defense enterprises,” Lavrov said. “Decision-making centers in Kiev can also quite be such targets,” he added.

On Friday White House national security official John Kirby announced that the US is set to approve yet another security package for Ukraine as part of the ‘surge’ in arms. The Associated Press details Friday afternoon:

The United States is expected to announce that it will send $1.25 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, U.S. officials said Friday, as the Biden administration pushes to get as much aid to Kyiv as possible before leaving office on Jan. 20.

The large package of aid includes a significant amount of munitions, including for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems and the HAWK air defense system. It also will provide Stinger missiles and 155 mm- and 105 mm artillery rounds, officials said.

But by many accounts on the ground, Ukraine’s chief disadvantage lies more in severe manpower shortages in the face of the advancing Russians. This extra surge in weaponry is not expected to make a big difference on the battlefield. 

Authored by Tom Mitchelhill via CoinTelegraph.com,

Ethereum’s Ether has been marred by under-performance over the last 18 months, seeing Bitcoin and a swathe of other alternative layer-1 coins, including the likes of Solana and Sui, dramatically outperforming it. 

While ETH has gained 88% in the last 18 months, SOL has posted a 1,040% gain, and SUI has rallied 448% in the same timeframe. 

“ETH got sandwiched in 2024 between two shiny objects: Bitcoin, which attracted a huge amount of institutional interest, and Solana, which gained traction with retail investors. ETH was the odd man out,” Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan told Cointelegraph.

However, many crypto pundits believe the election of Donald Trump in the United States and the expected crypto-friendly stance of key agencies under his new administration could mark the turning point for the performance of Ether in the crypto market. After all, the incoming president’s family launched its own decentralized finance (DeFi) project, World Liberty Financial, on the chain.

Experts are looking at a swathe of new developments for a bullish stance on ETH heading into 2025, ranging from the demise of “financial nihilism” to a complete overhaul of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, positive regulatory developments, Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) staking, and increased Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) oversight of crypto. 

Alternative layer-1 coins like SOL and SUI have drastically outperformed ETH. Source: TradingView

“Ethereum is poised to benefit more [from a Trump win] than other protocols, especially since it’s just a lot bigger and more mature than all the other ecosystems other than Bitcoin, which is mature but narrow in its purview,” Consensys CEO Joe Lubin told Cointelegraph at Devcon 2024.

At the same time, the gloss has started to come off Solana, whose SOL token peaked at an all-time high of $264 a month ago but has since retreated to $192 amid concerns over looming token unlocks.

End of crypto’s financial nihilism

One of the big factors weighing heavily on Ethereum’s price has been the aggressive approach of regulators toward alleged securities violations by ecosystem projects including Uniswap, Consensys, Lido and Rocket Pool. Memecoin projects, meanwhile, have been largely overlooked by the SEC.

A related issue is the disillusionment of crypto natives who were dumped on by venture capitalists during the brutal bear market. Many have turned to fair-launch memecoins and other hyper-speculative assets with little utility. Ikigai Asset Management founder and chief investment officer Travis Kling calls this phenomenon “financial nihilism.”

In a March 12 essay, Kling said financial nihilism gives little if any importance to “fundamentals” or any notion of an underlying “value proposition.”

“Financial Nihilism goes hand in hand with Populism – a political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.”

“The underlying drivers of Financial Nihilism and Populism are the same – this system is not working for me, so I want to try something very different (e.g., buy SHIB or vote for Trump),” wrote Kling.

However, Ethereum is sold almost entirely on its fundamentals and utility. Advocates repeatedly make the claim that the blockchain network and its ecosystem of layer 2s stand as the future of legitimate, programmable digital money, smart contracts and decentralized financial activity. 

Trump’s SEC overhaul is good for DeFi

Saul Rejwan, managing partner of crypto venture capital firm Masterkey, says Trump’s pro-crypto stance could see financial nihilism fall out of favor as legitimate projects are encouraged by regulators rather than hit with endless Wells notices from the SEC. 

On Dec. 4, Trump tapped pro-crypto businessman and former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins as his nominee for the next SEC chair, with current Chair Gary Gensler set to resign from the agency on Jan. 20. 

The SEC will be losing three of its Democratic commissioners under Trump, with Jaime Lizarraga set to leave the agency on Jan. 17 and, more recently, the Senate Banking Committee canceling the renomination vote of crypto-skeptic commissioner Caroline Crenshaw on Dec. 17.

As the ruling party, the Republicans would typically appoint a majority of three commissioners, but the rapid-fire resignations and cancellations open the SEC up to a possible line-up of four Republican-appointed, crypto-friendly commissioners if Trump breaks protocol.

Rejwan told Cointelegraph that legitimate sectors of the crypto industry, specifically DeFi and decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN), stand to benefit most from the new administration and a more crypto-friendly SEC.

“DeFi projects will thrive under a more favorable regulatory environment. Sectors like restaking just need a little regulatory push to hook institutional investors,” he said.

“We expect this new leadership to lower barriers to entry and make it easier for early-stage crypto entrepreneurs and resilient firms to innovate and thrive.”

The Gensler-led SEC under the Biden administration has been famously hostile to DeFi, with the regulator bringing Uniswap, the largest decentralized exchange on Ethereum, into its sights earlier this year. 

The SEC has proposed expanding the definition of what qualifies as an exchange in the Exchange Act of 1934, explicitly arguing it should include crypto market participants in DeFi.

Anoop Nannra, CEO of Trugard Labs, said he expects the SEC to undergo a complete overhaul of its enforcement actions and policy directions, saying crypto assets are slated to be classified as “property” under the new administration.

“I’ve heard from several people within Trump’s orbit that property rights are a critical issue for this administration and that this is actually going to be the calling card for the Republican party’s position on crypto,” he said.

“I expect to see a complete revamp of the SEC’s position based on this.”

On Dec. 19, the Token Alliance — which incoming SEC Chair Paul Atkins was co-chair of — met with staffers for SEC Commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda and issued its list of priorities. It requested that the agency denounce the controversial 2018 “Hinman speech” and formally withdraw a series of rules that deemed DeFi players to be seen as “exchanges” by law.

The Token Alliance has asked the SEC to walk back a swathe of anti-crypto policies. Source: The Digital Chamber

Nannra said he also expects the CFTC will soften to digital assets as well and that the SEC will engage in more discussions with the CFTC moving forward. 

“I expect to see the CFTC take a more progressive position on crypto as well, further re-aligning the oversight powers between the SEC and the CFTC,” Nannra said. 

SEC vs. CFTC: Does FIT21 even matter?

Many pundits believe that the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21) — a bill that was passed through the House in May — would be central to the alignment of the CFTC and the SEC on crypto. 

In short, the bill sought to introduce a federal framework for crypto regulation, pull back some of the SEC’s authority over digital assets, and hand over regulation of spot crypto markets to the CFTC instead. 

Because Ether has also been deemed a commodity by the CFTC, several pundits have previously asserted that FIT21 could be highly beneficial for Ethereum from a policy perspective. 

But now, with the change in the regulatory landscape, it raises the question of whether or not the FIT21 bill would be necessary or even desirable anymore. The bill may end up becoming just an unnecessary policy bargain made during a hostile time for crypto assets. 

In a Nov. 15 client alert, lawyers from legal firm Brownstein noted the bill had stalled but would likely “serve as the starting point for legislative efforts in the new Congress.”

Regardless of whether FIT21 passes, Trump is reportedly considering handing the CFTC oversight over crypto during his upcoming term, which would also classify most crypto projects as commodities if they meet certain criteria.

If the CFTC is given regulatory control of crypto, it could come as a win for the industry, which has long signaled that the agency would be its preferred regulator — with the CFTC widely seen as having a “lighter touch” on regulation. 

What legal changes can we expect to see under Trump?

Crypto lawyer Robert Nupp told Cointelegraph that the launch of the Trump dynasty’s World Liberty Financial was one the biggest “soft” endorsements of Ethereum, DeFi and real-world crypto projects. It has already purchased millions of dollars worth of ETH, Chainlink LINK$22.18 and Aave AAVE$326.14.

Nupp believes many within crypto are actually underestimating the positive impact of Trump on the industry. 

“Right out of the gate, they’re going to be extremely helpful to crypto.”

Source: Lookonchain 

According to Nupp, Trump is using World Liberty Financial as a beacon to show the world exactly how he intends to deal with crypto when he becomes president.

“He’s basically signaling to the world that it’s okay to do this going forward in his administration,” he said.

Nupp also tipped the Trump administration to move extremely quickly on crypto, pointing out Trump’s close ties with Elon Musk and the appointment of David Sacks as crypto and AI czar as evidence of the pace he will set.

“It’s going to be a blitzkrieg.”

ETH staking yields could come to ETFs 

SEC Commissioner Peirce has already flagged the potential of revisiting decisions to block in-kind redemptions for crypto ETFs and to add staking for the Ether ETFs.

“If it changes from a majority of commissioners who don’t want things to go through to a majority of commissioners who do want things to go through, then yeah, it’s easier,” she said.

The ETF issuers — including Fidelity, 21Shares, and Franklin Templeton — have all requested the addition of staking, which currently yields approximately 3.1% per year, according to Staking Rewards. 

“We believe, under a new Trump 2.0 crypto-friendly SEC, ETH staking yield will likely be approved,” Bernstein said, predicting that growing network activity on Ethereum could see rewards “juice up” to 4%–5%. 

Ethereum boasts a 3.11% staking reward rate as of Dec. 24. Source: Staking Rewards

It doesn’t take much to connect the dots on why an ETF offering native yield would be bullish for the underlying asset, particularly in an economic landscape where the US Federal Reserve is looking to drop interest rates further in 2025.

“In a declining rate environment, ETH yield can be quite attractive. The yield feature in ETFs would also leave some spread for asset managers,” Bernstein said, adding that this would improve ETH’s economics and introduce further incentives to push ETH ETFs to institutional investors. 

Authored by Andrea Widburg via AmericanThinker.com,

Kash Patel has promised that, if he becomes head of the FBI, he will reveal the secrets it’s unlawfully hidden, call to account the FBI employees (from the top down) who have violated the law, and end illegal FBI activities.

Deep State operatives and their friends in the media and academia call this a form of impermissible loyalty to Donald Trump. Americans, however, call this laudable loyalty to the American people and the rule of law. It’s to be hoped that Republicans in the Senate listen to the American people and not to the siren song of the Swamp.

One of the Deep Staters who seems very worried that the FBI will be forced onto the straight and narrow is William Webster, one of the deepest of the Deep Staters.

Webster started working for the federal government in the early 1950s and retired only 70 years later, in 2020. Over the course of his career, this centenarian has been a US Attorney in Missouri, a district court judge in Missouri, an appellate judge in Missouri, the director of the FBI, the director of the CIA, and the chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Council. I do not consider this a glowing resume. I consider it a terrifying one and wouldn’t trust Webster as far as I could throw him.

According to Politico, Webster is sounding the alarm about Patel:

A former head of the FBI and CIA is raising objections over whether Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard, President-elect Donald Trump’s picks to be directors of the FBI and national intelligence, respectively, are qualified to serve in the Cabinet.

In a letter to senators on Thursday, William Webster, the only person to lead both the FBI and CIA, wrote that neither nominee meets the demands of top intelligence jobs.

Webster, who is 100 years old, praised Patel’s patriotism but wrote that his allegiance to Trump was concerning.

“His record of executing the president’s directives suggest a loyalty to individuals rather than the rule of law – a dangerous precedent for an agency tasked with impartial enforcement of justice,” he said.

Now, maybe I missed it, but I don’t recall a squeak from Webster about the FBI’s heinous abuses under Obama or Biden, or when they were ostensibly reporting to Trump while trying to destroy.

As best as I can tell, Webster was silent when Obama spied on congresspeople and journalists.

He then maintained that silence about the Russia Hoax, the Ukraine hoax, the framing of the half-witted “Whitmer kidnapping” defendants, the attacks on parents speaking out at school board meetings, the spying on traditional Catholics, the all-out war against the January 6ers (something that stands in complete contrast to the pass that the FBI routinely gave leftist protestors), the way the FBI consistently protected Biden and his whole family, and the vicious persecution of pro-life activists…just to name a few examples of blatant FBI partisanship.

Webster’s photos show a nice-looking old man, but when I imagine this government insider terrified of a clean broom coming into the FBI and forcing it to abide by the law, my mind’s eye summons up a very different image.

The panic about a new broom at the FBI also showed up in ludicrous fashion at The New Yorker, which chose to publish an academic’s essay putting J. Edgar Hoover up on a pedestal as a model of virtuous non-partisanship compared to Patel. I’m not exaggerating. This is how Beverly Gage’s essay opens:

Since President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention of appointing his political loyalist Kash Patel as the director of the F.B.I., critics have warned that we’re heading back to the bad old days of J. Edgar Hoover. The F.B.I. should be so lucky.

Hoover, for all his many faults and abuses of power, was nevertheless an institution builder; he believed in the F.B.I.’s nonpartisan independence.

The essay goes on from there, a perfect hagiography of a virtuous man who cross-dressed, hid his homosexual relationships, and tried to destroy Civil Rights activists.

What’s so funny about this is that, as I vividly recall from my youth, the left despised Hoover because they believed that he was the ultimate partisan, using his vast, mostly self-acquired power to destroy communists and anyone else he didn’t like.

Gage’s claim to write with such authority about the wonders of Hoover’s FBI tenure is that she is a Yale professor who wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography about Hoover. (Nowadays, the Pulitzer Prize is like a rattlesnake warning that a book or article is a leftist wet dream.) What’s so fascinating about her love affair with Hoover is how it differs from a two-year-old interview that Gage did with The Jacobin. There, she explains how the left rightly despised Hoover because of his blatant, noxious, dangerous partisanship.

Mary McCarthy famously said of the communist Lillian Hellman that “everything she says is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the.’”

That could be written on the tombstones of America’s media, political insiders, and academics.

As I said at the start of this essay, unless the Senators have nasty secrets that only the FBI knows, they will serve the American people best if they affirm the Kash Patel nomination.

Despite yesterday’s wide-ranging Israel aerial assault on Yemen, the Houthis have hit back – showing they remain undeterred in their willingness to attack Israel – having launched an overnight ballistic missile on Tel Aviv.

The missile was reportedly intercepted by air defenses before it entered Israeli airspace, but a Houthi spokesman claimed that Ben Gurion international airport was targeted in a significant escalation. The Houthis even claim it was hit.

Times of Israel notes that the population of central Israel has been on edge: “For the fifth night in the last eight days, sirens sounded in large swathes of central Israel overnight Thursday-Friday, after another ballistic missile attack by Yemen’s Houthis.”

The same report indicated that some 20 people were hurt amid the panic and evacuations, with 18 of those slightly injured while rushing to bomb shelters and two suffering anxiety attacks.

The Houthi statement said that “the missile succeeded in reaching its target despite the enemy’s censorship, and the operation resulted in casualties and the cessation of navigation at the airport.”

But the Israeli military confirmed that there were no strikes which hit the airport or its vicinity. A drone was also reportedly sent from Yemen but didn’t appear to cause damage.

Despite Israel stepping up its attacks on Yemen, including Netanyahu’s recent vow to hunt down Houthi leadership, the Houthis have vowed to not stop the attacks “until the aggression on Gaza stops and the siege is lifted.”

Days ago, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the leaders of the Yemeni group have made themselves targets. Taking them out will now be a top priority for the Israeli military.

“Just as we took care of Sinwar in Gaza, Haniyeh in Tehran and Nasrallah in Beirut, we will deal with the heads of the Houthis in Sana’a or anywhere in Yemen,” Katz has said in the Tuesday comments, making reference to the slain leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas.

“We will act both against their infrastructure and against them to remove the threat,” he pledged while inspecting an Arrow air defense system battery which just intercepted the latest Houthi missile attack.

NEW: Yemen’s Houthis launched another ballistic missile toward Tel Aviv following Israeli airstrikes on Yemen yesterday.

The missile was intercepted by Israel. pic.twitter.com/ElZO1SJ20G

— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 27, 2024

He also again called out Iran, warning that “whoever sponsors the Houthi terror in Hodeida or Sana’a will pay the full price.” Washington has for years documented Tehran’s support to the group, which has included advanced missiles and drone technology. This has allowed the threat out of Yemen to grow significantly.

Last Saturday saw one of the biggest Houthi strikes to date, coming in the form of a reported hypersonic ballistic missile which hit Tel Aviv, leaving 16 people injured. And Tuesday morning saw another Houthi missile launch on Israel, which at that point had marked the third such attack in less than a week. 

Authored by Andrew Moran via The Epoch Times,

Economists have described the past four years as the “vibecession,” a disconnect between Americans’ feelings about the economy and the data.

It was the consensus view on Wall Street that the economy would slide into a recession, but economic conditions have defied expectations. Gross domestic product (GDP) has expanded at a solid pace, the labor market has added millions of new jobs, and the inflation growth rate has eased from its June 2022 peak.

If this is the current state of the world’s largest economy, why have U.S. households been down?

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell was asked about this at the December post-policy meeting press conference, and he attributed this pessimistic view to the “tremendous pain” of high prices.

“Prices went up by a great deal, and people really feel that, and it’s prices of food and transportation and heating your home and things like that. So there’s tremendous pain in that burst of inflation that was very global,” Powell said.

“Now we have inflation itself is way down, but people are still feeling high prices. And that is really what people are feeling.”

Indeed, inflation has been and continues to be the main story in today’s economy.

Inflation and GDP

Over the past four years, inflation has eaten away many gains made throughout the economy.

Consumer prices have soared by about 21 percent, while producer prices—a gauge of prices paid by businesses for goods and services at the wholesale level—have surged by about 24 percent. Americans’ purchasing power has also eroded by 17 percent.

The current administration has touted the labor market’s strength, with wage growth at the top of its accomplishments. While nominal (non-inflation-adjusted) wage growth has soared, real (inflation-adjusted) wage growth has been stuck in subzero terrain throughout President Joe Biden’s term.

As a result, households have been struggling to keep up with sky-high living expenses, whether utilities or food.

At the same time, the inflation bomb that went off in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic also weighed on economic advances.

Retail sales, for example, have soared, indicating that consumers have strong balance sheets. However, after adjusting for inflation, retail sales have flatlined, suggesting that consumers spent more for the same or less.

Some economists assert that inflation might have been undercounted and growth overstated.

In October, economists EJ Antoni and Peter St Onge published a study in Brownstone Journal, concluding that the cumulative inflation has been understated by nearly half and cumulative growth might have been “overstated by roughly 15 [percent].”

“Even without considering population growth and per capita GDP, the adjusted real GDP values imply that the nation entered a recession in the first quarter of 2022 and remained in that contraction through the second quarter of 2024,” they wrote.

That said, the official U.S. government data suggest that growth prospects have been robust, even in a climate of higher interest rates and geopolitical risks.

Under the Biden administration, real GDP rose by 12.6 percent, according to the White House. In 2024, the United States is poised to register a 2.5 percent growth rate.

By comparison, his predecessor, President Donald Trump, oversaw an economy that expanded by about 7 percent.

Spending and Deficits

The federal government is running a sizable budget deficit as if it were in a recession, war, or pandemic.

Despite that the economy is growing and running at full employment, the deficit as a share of the GDP is about 7 percent. The last times the deficit-to-GDP ratio was this high were during the global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The national debt clock at a bus station in Washington on Nov. 26, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Washington faces a challenge because spending continues to grow. Federal outlays are up by 47 percent from before the public health crisis, exceeding $7 trillion.

Likewise, the national debt has increased by more than $8 trillion since January 2021, reaching $36.2 trillion.

Although resilient consumers and their spending patterns have been the main drivers of meteoric growth, government consumption has also played a prominent role in the economy’s growth.

In the third quarter, when the U.S. economy rose by 3.1 percent, expenditures from all three levels of government contributed 28 percent to the rise in GDP.

At the federal level, net government outlays account for less than one-quarter of the GDP, up from about one-fifth before the pandemic.

The economic literature states that cutting government spending would be a net benefit for the economy. More resources would stay in the private sector and be efficiently allocated toward productive uses rather than government edicts.

A significant portion of federal revenues has been dedicated to debt servicing payments, which are taxpayer funds that will not produce anything critical for the long-term success of the broader economy.

Consumer Sentiment

From higher prices to ballooning debt, households maintained a sour outlook on the economy.

NBC News exit poll data show that heading into the voting booth on Election Day in November, nearly half (45 percent) of voters said they were financially worse off than they were four years earlier.

Consumer sentiment improved in December for the fifth consecutive month. Despite the jump, the public’s view of the economy has failed to return to pre-crisis levels.

The widely watched University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index reached an all-time high in February 2020. After plummeting to a record low in June 2022, it has steadily rebounded, although it is still below the high observed under the previous administration.

Alternatively, the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index has also failed to recover from its highs in 2018 and 2019.

Over the past four years, households have endured daily sticker shocks, whether for a carton of eggs or a visit to the dentist. Many goods and services are more expensive, and consumers see their paychecks unable to cover these higher costs.

This has forced millions of Americans to take on more debt.

According to New York Fed statistics, household debt has soared by about $3.3 trillion since the first quarter of 2021. One culprit of this upward trend has been credit card debt, which rose by approximately $400 billion in this span to a record $1.17 trillion.

An October Civic Science survey found that 41 percent of Americans rely on debt to stay afloat.

The 2025 Outlook

According to a recent Bankrate survey, 44 percent of Americans think their personal financial situation will improve next year, up from 37 percent at the end of 2023.

The top financial objective for 21 percent of Americans? Paying down debt.

“Inflation has faded, but it hasn’t gone away,” Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate, said in a statement.

“With interest rates still elevated, it is encouraging to see the top financial goal is to pay down debt. Average credit card interest rates top 20 [percent], still close to a record high. Targeting high-cost debt can provide an immediate benefit.”

Eradicating price inflation from the collective consciousness of the American people might be the road to bolstering consumer sentiment in 2025 and beyond.

Oil prices were slightly higher on Friday as Israeli strikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels triggered what Tom Essaye, founder and president of Sevens Report Research described as a “fear bid” for the commodity.

“This is a geopolitics-driven market,” Melek said.

“We’re a little worried about events around the Red Sea and potentially getting shipments interrupted in the broader region,” he added.

U.S. crude oil inventories fell by more than expected last week and product stocks were mixed as refineries raised their capacity use, according to official data released (on a delay due to the holiday) from DOE.

• Crude -4.24mm

• Cushing -320k

• Gasoline +1.63mm

• Distillates -1.69mm

This is the 5th straight week of crude stock drawdowns and sixth straight week of gasoline builds…

Source: Bloomberg

Cushing stocks fell back near ‘tank bottoms’ once again (lowest since Oct 2023)…

Source: Bloomberg

WTI extended the day’s gains on the crude draw, holding solidly above $70…

Source: Bloomberg

Crude is on track for a modest annual loss, with trading confined in a narrow band since mid-October.

There are widespread concerns the market may be oversupplied next year as China’s demand slows and global production expands, although traders remain cautious about potentially tighter US sanctions against flows from Iran under Donald Trump.

The prompt spread on WTI futs – with the nearby contract trading at a premium of more than 40 cents a barrel to the next in line – points to near-term supply tightness.

Authored by John Haughey via The Epoch Times,

The state of New York will charge carbon-emitting companies an estimated $75 billion in climate damage they allegedly caused between 2000 and 2018 under a law enacted on Dec. 26.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Climate Change Superfund Act into law on Thursday. The law is certain to be challenged in court as a state preemption of federal regulatory oversight.

Adopted by lawmakers in June, the law—which goes into effect in 2028—will annually assess large companies’ carbon emissions across those first 19 years of the 21st century to “repair damage caused by extreme weather” they said aggravated by greenhouse gas emissions.

“New York has fired a shot that will be heard round the world: the companies most responsible for the climate crisis will be held accountable,” said Democratic state Sen. Liz Krueger, a lead sponsor of the New York Climate Change Superfund Act.

The bill estimates compliance will cost about three dozen of the state’s largest carbon-emitting companies about $3 billion collectively each year for the next 25 years—$75 billion in total. That would be 15 percent of the $500 billion the Fiscal Policy Institute estimates the law could actually end up costing by 2050.

“With nearly every record rainfall, heat wave, and coastal storm, New Yorkers are increasingly burdened with billions of dollars in health, safety, and environmental consequences due to polluters that have historically harmed our environment,” Hochul said in a Dec. 26 statement released by her office, noting that $500 billion equates to “more than $65,000 per household.”

The money will go into a Climate Change Adaptation Cost Recovery Program to restore and protect coastal wetlands, and upgrade roads, bridges, and stormwater systems, among other infrastructure resiliency projects and programs.

New York’s law is modeled after the 1980 federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), or Superfund law, which requires companies responsible for pollution to pay for cleanup and remediation of polluted land, water, and air.

New York is the second state to adopt a “polluter pays” liability law. Vermont lawmakers earlier in 2024 adopted its law that was enacted July 1 without Republican Gov. Phil Scott’s signature.

It requires the state treasurer to calculate damages from “climate change-caused disasters,” as well as the expenses the state is incurring to adapt to changing conditions such as increasing precipitation in assessing carbon emitters.

Once those calculations are tabulated, Vermont will assess companies responsible for more than 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the past 30 years, levied as a “proportional to its share of global emissions.”

New Jersey lawmakers, in recess from an underway 2024–2025 session, are likely to adopt in early 2025 Senate Bill 3545, the Climate Superfund Act, which would be similar to New York’s law.

It was introduced in the Senate in September, advanced through a Senate Environment and Energy Committee hearing on Dec. 12, and has been referred to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.

This year, “polluter pays” bills were also introduced in Massachusetts, California, Maryland, and Minnesota that are likely to be reintroduced when 2025 state legislative sessions convene.

Advocates such as 350 Mass, an environmental nonprofit, say adopting a 2025 version of 2024 SB 481 is a top priority in Massachusetts.

California’s SB 1497, the Polluters Pay Climate Cost Recovery Act of 2024, passed through Senate appropriations, judiciary, and environmental quality committees and died on the Senate’s “inactive file” in November.

Maryland’s RENEW Act of 2024 seeks to levy penalties on the 40 biggest greenhouse gas emitters over the past two decades to generate $900 million a year in revenues.

New York State Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) and members of Met Council on Housing, Common Cause, and the Fair Elections Coalition on Aug. 12, 2013, at the REBNY headquarters in Midtown Manhattan. Ivan Pentchoukov/The Epoch Times

‘New Horizons’

The mushrooming number of “polluter pays” state liability laws is a way for states to establish stable regulatory standards in a time of federal upheaval, economists suggest.

As documented in a Columbia University Law School Sabin Center for Climate Change Law March 2024 analysis by Martin Lockman and Emma Shumway, and in a July 2024 National Law review analysis by Aliza R. Cinamon, state Superfund laws are a “new horizon” in shielding taxpayers from costs imposed by polluters.

The state Superfund bills, including New York’s, have drawn heated opposition and rebuke from businesses and industry that coalesced as the Better Plan, No Bans coalition.

Also among opponents are the National Fuel Gas Co., New York Farm Bureau, National Mining Association, New Yorkers for Affordable Energy, and the American Petroleum Institute.

“An ‘all-of-the-above’ approach that uses renewables, natural gas, and current delivery systems can help New York State reach emission mandates while prioritizing energy affordability and reliability,” National Fuel Gas Co. in a Dec. 10 X post appealed to Hochul to veto the bill.

The New York Business Council, a statewide association of 3,200 employers, maintains local governments and states should not be making federal energy policy, saying “polluter pays” concepts “unjustly focus on the energy sector,” damaging an industry that every segment of the economy benefits from.

Krueger said New York state and corporate accountability advocates are ready to defend the law in the courts and in legislative chambers nationwide.

“Too often over the last decade, courts have dismissed lawsuits against the oil and gas industry by saying that the issue of climate culpability should be decided by legislatures,” she said in the Dec. 26 statement.

“Well, the Legislature of the State of New York—the 10th largest economy in the world—has accepted the invitation.”

Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times,

Retail sales rose by nearly 4 percent year over year across the United States this holiday season as more Americans sought bargains during the November and Black Friday shopping period, according to new data from Mastercard SpendingPulse.

Mastercard analyzed in-store and online retail sales across the country from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24, with the company tracking all payment types, including cash and debit cards.

The data has not been adjusted for inflation and excludes automotive sales.

According to Mastercard, overall retail sales were up 3.8 percent this holiday season from 2023, when they increased by 3.1 percent from the previous year. The last five days of the holiday season this year accounted for 10 percent of all holiday spending, it said.

The growth was partly driven by consumers responding to promotions during the November and Black Friday shopping period, along with more spending leading up to Christmas Eve, Mastercard said.

Major retailers, including Walmart and Amazon.com, ramped up promotions to entice shoppers during this year’s shorter-than-usual holiday season.

According to Mastercard, shoppers splurged mostly on jewelry, which saw sales rise by 4 percent, followed by electronics (3.7 percent) and apparel (3.6 percent) from last year.

Additionally, consumer demand for experiences such as dining out saw a marked increase this holiday season, with restaurant spending growth increasing by 6.3 percent year on year, Mastercard found.

Shoppers also appeared to prefer making purchases online this year, according to the preliminary insights. The data show that online retail sales grew by 6.7 percent from November to December this year from 2023, while in-store sales increased by 2.9 percent.

Notably, most Americans who shopped online purchased apparel, and that sector saw a 6.7 percent increase in online purchases from last year.

Shoppers Searching for Bargains

Mastercard found that some cities—particularly Tampa and Phoenix—emerged as leaders in e-commerce during the 2024 holiday season, with a 10.6 percent and 10 percent growth in e-commerce sales, respectively, compared to 2023.

Minneapolis, Dallas, Charlotte, Orlando, and Houston also came in well above the national total for e-commerce sales compared to last year, Mastercard said.

Rising retail sales occurred even though consumers faced higher prices this year amid lingering inflation, suggesting that budget-conscious shoppers are still willing to part with their cash as long as they can get a bargain.

Michelle Meyer, chief economist at Mastercard Economics Institute, said the holiday shopping season “revealed a consumer who is willing and able to spend but driven by a search for value,” as seen by concentrated online spending during the biggest promotional periods.

“Solid spending during this holiday season underscores the strength we observed from the consumer all year, supported by the healthy labor market and household wealth gains,” Meyer said.

Consumer spending accounts for nearly 70 percent of U.S. economic activity, and the latest data highlight a resilient consumer despite economic uncertainty.

A broader picture of how Americans are spending their money will be available in January when the National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, releases its two-month sales figures from the Commerce Department.

The latest data come shortly after the Federal Reserve announced its third consecutive interest rate cut of 2024, lowering the benchmark rate by 25 basis points to between 4.25 percent and 4.5 percent.

However, the central bank also said it expects just two rate cuts in 2025, half a percentage point less than it forecasted in September, suggesting officials are opting for a more conservative approach to loosening monetary policy.

Authored by Jonathan Turley via jonathanturley.org,

“Lies.” That response was a mantra for President Joe Biden, who denied ever meeting or knowing about his son’s foreign dealings. Despite the pronounced lack of interest by most media outlets in the alleged multimillion dollar influence-peddling scheme, the House and conservative groups have doggedly pursued the matter and found overwhelming evidence that the President has repeatedly lied about his interactions with foreign clients. Now, a new photo further contradicts the President, who recently pardoned his son for any crimes committed over a ten-year period.

America First Legal has been engaged in a prolonged legal fight with the National Archives to get access to the undisclosed evidence. It recently won critical rulings forcing the release. The discovery includes this photo of then-vice president Joe Biden meeting with Hunter and his clients. It adds to an already ample photographic and testimonial record contradicting the President’s past denials.

The House has released records showing $27 million in payments from foreign sources to Hunter Biden and his business partners from 2014 to 2019. Hunter used official trips with his father to facilitate some of these associations.

Despite denying meeting with these clients or knowing anything about his son’s dealings, it was later revealed that Biden was repeatedly put on a speakerphone with clients, attended dinners, and took pictures with them, including BHR Partners CEO Jonathan Li. A key witness said that he sat down with Joe Biden specifically to discuss these foreign deals with this son.

Joe Biden later wrote college recommendation letters for Li’s son and daughter.

In the summer of 2019, Li wired Hunter Biden $250,000 that originated in Beijing and had Joe Biden’s Delaware home as the beneficiary address.

There were diamonds as gifts, lavish expense accounts, and a sports car, in addition to massive payments that Hunter claimed were “loans.” There are messages like the one to a Chinese businessman openly threatening the displeasure of Joe Biden if money is not sent to them immediately. In the WhatsApp message, Hunter stated:

“I am sitting here with my father, and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the Chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.”

After years of ignoring the influence-peddling scandal, the media is not likely to suddenly pursue the story. In the meantime, Democrats have praised or rationalized Biden for pardoning his son despite the fact that it covered possible crimes that might implicate not just Hunter but his father in corruption.

Only two out of ten Americans support the pardon. However, Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate majority whip, called it a “labor of love.”

And, as we learned in a certain 1970 film, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” . . .  particularly when you have pardon power.

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”