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WEF Attendee Liz Truss Says British Economy “Needs A Reset” As Market Conditions Worsen

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New British PM Elizabeth Truss has been touted by many including the mainstream media as a “far-right” politicianwith wide appeal to British conservatives. 

This is fast becoming a prerequisite ideological position to take in Europe as the open border/socialist policies of leftist political leaders are leaving the EU in economic ruins and as they approach an energy based catastrophe not seen since WWII.

Boris Johnson revealed himself to be nowhere near as conservative as many initially believed with his support of draconian covid mandates, stopping just short of enforcing vaccine passports but still requiring proof of vaccination for major venues.  All this while holding lavish parties at his official residence during the lockdowns he helped enforce.  Adding to the problem were Johnson’s tax increases in the midst of an inflationary crisis, which led to widespread public discontent and his eventual resignation.

When Truss became a potential candidate to replace Johnson some in the alternative media warned that her ongoing associations with the World Economic Forum and attendance at Davos events might be a red flag of another political pretender playing at being conservative while actually serving the interests of globalist institutions.  This was, of course, called conspiracy theory by “fact checkers” in the MSM.

It is a concrete reality that the new PM has been a participant in the Davos meetings held by the World Economic Forum, a central hub of globalism that acts as a think tank and propaganda mill where new narratives are born.  Specifically, the WEF is most known for its “Great Reset” mantra, which is part of founder Klaus Schwab’s “4th Industrial Revolution” concept.  A key focus of the Great Reset is something called the “Shared Economy,” which is described as the complete erasure of private property and the implementation of communist-like governance over individual economic participation.    

The Shared Economy is the source of the phrase “You will own nothing and be happy,” which actually comes from an article written by the WEF and published by Forbes Magazine titled ‘Welcome To 2030: I Own Nothing, Have No Privacy And Life Has Never Been Better.’

Far from being a “conspiracy theory,” the Great Reset is commonly presented by the WEF as the ultimate end game – An agenda, not just an idea.  This has rightly caused concern among the public, because many WEF concepts that are presented at Davos end up being adopted by major governments and instituted into law.  And, many Davos attendees tend to climb the political ladder rather quickly into positions of significant power.

Any legitimate conservative leader or candidate would therefore know about globalist terminology such are the term “Reset” and try to avoid using it at all costs. 

No right wing leader would want to be associated with a globalist agenda that the majority of conservatives would rather go to war against.

It could be taken as a limited gaff or mistake, but Truss’ recent use of the term raises eyebrows considering her past affiliations with the WEF.  She states that:

“We believe in making it easier for our wealth creators, doers and makers to get things done…

Britain’s economy needs a reset. We cannot continue on the current trajectory of managed decline. Instead, we must take a new direction. I will lead us down that path to a better future.”

This comment was made not long after Truss addressed the plunge of the Pound and the near bankruptcy of the UK pension system.  

A key requirement built into any economic “reset” would be the collapse of the old model.  Truss might simply be describing what is likely to happen rather than what she wants to happen, but she does present the concept of a reset as a solution, and not as a threat.  Meaning, she should be watched carefully by conservatives. 

This post was originally published at Zero Hedge

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Congressional Witness: Liberals Siding with Corporations to Keep Wages Down via Mass Immigration

Liberals are siding with corporate America over the nation’s workers.

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John Binder | Breitbart

ISAAC GUZMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Liberals are siding with corporate America over the nation’s workers in their promotion of mass immigration, a key tool in keeping wages down, Center for Immigration Studies Director of Research Steven Camarota told lawmakers this week.

During a hearing before the House Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee, led by Chairman Bob Good (R-VA), Camarota said liberals — such as President Joe Biden — have broken with historical precedent in recent decades to defend the interests of corporations against American workers when it comes to national immigration policy.

“Historically, progressives from Eugene Debs to A. Philip Randolph, they got that if you have lots of immigration, you tend to push down wages,” Camarota said:

Unfortunately, a lot of progressives are lying with corporate America on this — they want low wages. And they’re perfectly happy to ignore this crisis of non-work among working-age people, particularly the U.S.-born. Immigrants haven’t suffered this same problem. It’s particularly U.S.-born men without a college degree and we know it’s a social disaster. [Emphasis added]

Even former President Obama, in his 2006 book The Audacity of Hope, admitted that illegal immigration threatened the wages of America’s working class:

As Breitbart News reported, Camarota estimates that more than 44 million native-born Americans remain on the labor market sidelines — not including the millions of native-born Americans counted in monthly unemployment figures.

“If we curtailed immigration and enforced our law, we would be forced to draw these people back which will not be easy … less immigration would be enormously helpful but it is not the only issue,” Camarota said:

One of the things immigration is doing is holding down wages, there’s some crowding out … it’s letting us ignore this problem [of non-work]. If we didn’t have access to all this immigrant labor, employers and the American people … would demand that we try to reinstill the value of work. Raising wages would be one of the most important things to make work more attractive. Immigration lets us not do any of that, including the current flow of massive illegal immigration. [Emphasis added]

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‘Bidenomics’ Fail: Food Stamp Bonanza Sends Grocery Bills Soaring 15%, Study Finds

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In a classic move by those on the left — democrats, socialists, and everyone in between with seemingly no grasp of what sparks inflation — championed the Biden administration’s move in 2021 to increase food stamp spending by the most in history, hiking benefits by an average of 27%. 

In 2022, the Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) spending hit a record high of $119 billion, a sixfold increase over the last two decades. In 2019, taxpayers were on the hook for $4.5 billion per month on food stamp benefits. By December 2022, monthly food stamp spending soared to $11 billion. 

According to findings from the government watchdog Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), previewed by Fox News, the administration’s massive expansion of food stamp benefits could be responsible for a 15% spike in grocery store prices. 

FGA called Biden’s rush to increase SNAP benefits an “unlawful expansion—which bypassed Congress—will cost taxpayers $250 billion over the next decade and has heavily contributed to soaring grocery prices.”  

“Congress should repeal President Biden’s unlawful food stamp expansion and ensure this type of executive overreach cannot happen again. In doing so, Congress could save taxpayers more than $193 billion over the next decade,” it added. 

The good news is the emergency allotments expired earlier this year, but food stamp spending remains $8.6 billion in March. The Congressional Budget Office estimates SNAP spending will cost taxpayers nearly $1.1 trillion over the next decade. 

“USDA cooked their books to hike food stamp benefits by 27% — the largest permanent increase in program history. And they bypassed Congress to do it,” said Jonathan Ingram, Vice President of Policy and Research at the Foundation for Government Accountability.

Ingram noted, “Data show the Biden administration’s overreach led to massive spikes in grocery prices. They’re feeding inflation, not stopping hunger.”

The index for food at home (groceries) has skyrocketed ever since Biden increased SNAP benefits. 

As food inflation soared, Biden’s officials, seemingly detached from economic reality, pointed the finger at food companies for raging food inflation. 

Remember this?

If FGA is correct, this is another sign that ‘Bidenomics’ has been a disaster for low/mid-tier consumers drowning in inflation

It’s one giant EBT party…

This post was originally published at Zero Hedge

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Endgame: US Federal Debt Interest Payments About To Hit $1 Trillion

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There was a shocking number in today’s latest monthly US Budget Deficit report. No, it wasn’t that US government outlays unexpectedly soared 15% to $646 billion in June, up almost $100 billion from a year ago…

… while tax receipts slumped 9.2% from $461 billion to $418 billion, resulting in a TTM government receipt drop of over 7.3%, the biggest since June 2020 when the US was reeling from the covid lockdown recession; in fact never have before tax receipts suffered such a big drop without the US entering a recession.

Needless to say, surging government outlays coupled with shrinking tax revenues meant that in June, the US budget deficit nearly tripled from $89 billion a year ago to $228 billion, far greater than the consensus estimate of $175 billion. One can only imagine which Ukrainian billionaire oligarch’s money laundering bank account is currently enjoying the benefits of that unexpected incremental $50 billion US deficit hole: we know for a fact that the FBI will never get to the bottom of that one, since they can’t even figure out who dumped a bunch of blow inside the White House – the most protected and surveilled structure in the entire world.

And with the monthly deficits coming in higher than expected and also far higher than a year ago, it is also not at all surprising that the cumulative deficit 9 months into the fiscal year is already the 3rd highest on record, surpassed only by the crisis years of 2020 and 2021: at $1.393 trillion, the fiscal 2022 YTD deficit is already up 170% compared to the same period last year. 

Again, while sad, none of the above numbers are surprising: they merely confirm that the US is on an ever faster-track to fiscal death, but not before the Fed is forced to monetize the debt once again (one wonders what financial crisis the Jekyll Island folks will invoke this time to greenlight the next multi-trillion QE).

No, the one number that was truly shocking was found all the way on page 9, deep inside Table 3 of the latest Treasury Monthly Statement: the only highlighted below, and which shows that in the 9 months of the current fiscal year, the US has already accumulated a record $652 billion in gross debt interest.

This number was more than 25% higher compared to the Interest Expense payment for the comparable period a year ago, which amounted to $521 billion.

Soaring interest rates, driven by the panicked Fed’s scramble to undo its epic policy failure of 2020 and 2021 when the Fed kept rates at zero for far too long while injecting trillions into various asset bubbles, have been the key driver of the deficit, with the Federal Reserve boosting its benchmark rate by 5% since it began hiking in March last year. Five-year Treasury yields are now about 3.96%, versus 1.35% at the start of last year. As lower-yielding securities mature, the Treasury faces steady increases in the rates it pays on outstanding debt: that’s right – even when the Fed starts cutting rates, due to the delay of rolling over maturing debt, actual interest payments will keep rising for the foreseeable future.

For context, the weighted average interest for total outstanding debt at the end of June was only 2.76%, a level that’s not been surpassed since January 2012, according to the Treasury. That’s up from 1.80% a year before, the department’s data show, and if the Fed indeed keeps rates “higher for longer”, the blended rate on the debt will surpass 4% in one year.

That would be a complete disaster for the US, and it would mean that interest payments on total US debt of $32.3 trillion would hit $1.3 trillion within 12 months, potentially making interest on the debt the single biggest US government expenditure and surpassing social security!

But we don’t even have to wait that long until the exploding interest on US government debt becomes a major talking point ahead of the coming presidential elections. According to the St Louis Fed’s FRED and the BEA, the interest payments by the Federal Government have now surpassed $900 billion for the first time ever, and within a quarter will hit probably rise above $1 trillion, a historic benchmark that will probably begin the countdown to the US Minsky Moment.

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One of the most incompetent puppets in the Biden admin (and there are countless), Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, has played down concerns about higher rates. She has instead flagged that the ratio of interest payments to GDP, after adjustment for inflation, remains historically low. The problem with Yellen’s argument is that GDP will crater after the next recession (which will also spark the next financial crisis, one which Yellen will not live to see), but US debt will never again drop in either absolute or relative terms, as the good folks at the CBO have been so kind to make clear to even such intellectual midgets as the former Fed chairwoman.

In short, the endgame has now arrived, and all the US can do now is rearrange the deck chairs.

This post was originally published at Zero Hedge

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