Unleash Prosperity Hotline #886

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Unleash Prosperity Hotline – Weekend Edition
Issue #886
10/27/2023, 10/28/2023, and 10/29/2023
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1) Government Domestic Product

Very good news on the economy from yesterday: the GDP grew by a robust 4.9%. That's a long way from the recession many economists were predicting at the start of the year.

The bad news is that a lot of this growth is being driven by runaway government spending and debt.

As shown below, government spending is growing faster than consumer spending and has been for five quarters in a row now – it’s the fastest-growing part of the entire economy. In the last year, the government accounted for 26% of GDP growth: $166 billion of the $640 billion increase (chained 2017 dollars).

Meanwhile, the monthly jobs reports since the start of the year show government employers adding more jobs than any private sector industry.

The economy is growing – but mostly in the wrong places.

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2) The Great Energy Transition That Wasn’t

One of life’s great mysteries: How does the U.S. government manage to divert $400 billion of taxpayer money to green energy subsidies, and somehow the solar and wind companies still manage to lose money?

The answer: the same way the government pays people $7,500 to buy an electric vehicle and car buyers still won’t buy them. (See Item 2 below.)

This latest analysis from the Wall Street Journal highlights the financial problems with renewable energy – the supposed power sources of the future:

Clean-energy stocks have fallen out of favor...

The iShares Global Clean Energy ETF closed Wednesday at the lowest level since July 2020. The exchange-traded fund invests in renewable-energy companies and utilities in line with a benchmark compiled by S&P Dow Jones Indices, including First Solar and Plug Power. It has plunged 33% this year.

Some stocks have fallen even harder. U.S.-listed Enphase Energy has shed 64% in 2023, while competitor SolarEdge Technologies has sunk 71%. Excluding stocks that have been ejected from the S&P 500, SolarEdge ranks as the index’s worst performer this year.

We’ve said it many times before that there is no “global energy transition” going on; if there is one, it’s away from green energy, not toward it.

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3) EV Economics Keeps Failing

This week, Honda and General Motors announced an end to their two-year collaboration in building a platform for lower-cost EVs. “We decided that this would be difficult as a business,” said Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe.

The new Ultium lithium-ion cells to be used in the program didn’t pan out and costs remained stubbornly high. During the first three quarters of 2023, a mere 6,920 Ultium-based EVs were bought by U.S. consumers.

Older EVs are also hurting. Chevrolet is ending production of the Bolt EV, which uses older and more expensive batteries, and shifting the plant that made it to electric truck production.

This is despite all-in EV subsidies that now total more than $48,000 per vehicle according to a new TPPF analysis:

Panicked politicians who want to force-feed consumers EVs are responding with EVEN MORE subsidies to entice consumers – piling state subsidies on top of federal.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is pushing a new EV tax credit and has mandated that 82% of new cars in the state must be zero-emission by 2031. California already offers rebates of up to $9,500, Maine offers up to $7,500, and Colorado offers $5,000.

These mandates and incentives will only create shortages of the cars and trucks people actually want.

This smells to us like another fiasco similar to the infamous Ford Edsel flop – the car that all the experts said would jump out of the new car showrooms onto Americans’ driveways. Instead of selling 400,000 per year, Americans bought just 10,000 before the model was discontinued.

The Car Industry's Most Famous Flop – Until Now

A 1958 Edsel convertible made by Ford Underwood Archives / Getty Images

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4) Is Traveling by Plane Immoral?

If you think climate change craziness is out of control in the U.S., look at what’s happening in France.

A new poll finds that four of ten French voters believe that Europeans should be limited to four airline flights – not per year but over their entire LIFETIME.

The government seems eager to limit air travel. Earlier this year the country banned domestic flights between cities if it was determined that a high-speed rail connection that emits fewer greenhouse gases would be faster.

Now Transport Minister Clement Beaune says he wants to ban the cheapest airline fares between every European city because some prices don’t “reflect the price for the planet.” He plans to submit his proposal for approval by all European Union nations. He also wants to substantially increase the tax on flights.

Low-cost airlines democratized air travel in Europe (and the U.S.) by offering travelers rock-bottom fares on some routes, with Ryanair becoming the region's largest airline.

Fifty years ago, flying was largely restricted to the elite and the super-rich. Since deregulation, the middle class and many poor people have been able to afford the convenience of flying.

If the radical greens have their way – and this anti-air travel movement is surely coming to these shores – we will return to the days when flying is for the privileged few, and the middle class and poor are forced to stay home or take an eight-hour bus ride. Why is it that every green initiative from the left always hurts the poor more than the rich?

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5) Jamaal Bowman Gets a Slap on the Wrist for His Fire Alarm Stunt

Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s personal act of insurrection (when he pulled the fire alarm inside the Capitol to prevent a House floor vote) will go largely unpunished.

He pled guilty yesterday to pulling a false fire alarm and will pay a $1,000 fine and serve no jail time.

This sweetheart deal is outrageous on many fronts – especially given that we now have video evidence that he lied through his teeth when he told police that he thought the fire alarm was a door-opening device. The video clearly shows him removing the emergency signs, pulling the alarm, and walking away with no attempt to open the door.

If a Jan. 6th protester were caught on tape doing this, he likely would have been thrown in jail for five years. More evidence that we have a corrupt justice system in America.

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6) Hey, That’s MY Car Charger

This funny video is a spoof, but this is where society is headed in the era of EV madness.

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