This Election Year, Your Energy and Appliance Prices Are on the Ballot

• Although Americans know that 2024 is an election year, they might not know that energy is on the ballot.
• The election’s outcome will determine the amount people will pay for gasoline and electricity; what appliances they are allowed to buy, and their cost; what kind of new and used cars will be in dealer showrooms, and at what prices; and how much power China will wield over America’s supply chain.
• Congress passes major energy bills, but the president has ultimate authority when it comes to how much you pay for electricity and transportation through regulations enacted by individual agencies.
• President Biden campaigned on a platform of getting rid of fossil fuels, and he is trying to fulfill his campaign promise.
• On his first day in office, through executive order, he restricted offshore drilling, expanded boundaries of national monuments, and ended the Keystone XL pipeline. He has made it clear in numerous speeches that America is transitioning away from fossil fuels to renewables. In the 2023 State of the Union address, Biden said fossil fuels would be needed for only another decade.
• Republican candidates are all on record as favoring increased production of fossil fuels, speeding up pipeline construction, and ending subsidies for renewable energy.
• As 2024 progresses, it’s not just Democrats and Republicans who are on the ballot. Your energy and appliance prices are also up for a vote.

Schedule an Interview: Diana Furchtgott-Roth

Allegations of Affair With Her ‘Special Prosecutor’ Could Boot Fani Willis From Trump Case

• A stunningly salacious motion filed Monday by a lawyer for one of Donald Trump’s codefendants in a criminal case in Georgia accuses Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis of engaging in an “improper, clandestine personal relationship” with a married private attorney she hired as a “special prosecutor.”
• The motion asserts that since Willis never got the Fulton County Commission’s approval to hire Nathan Wade, as required by state law, “the entire prosecution is invalid and unconstitutional.” It argues that Wade, “who assisted in obtaining both grand jury indictments,” wasn’t lawfully appointed.
• If the case proceeds, the motion requests that Willis’ office as well as Wade be recused from further involvement, which ostensibly would mean that another prosecutor’s office would take over the case and put fresh eyes on the entire theory of prosecution.
• This motion should be taken seriously. If the allegations are true, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office should be recused from any further involvement in any of these cases.
• Willis’ conduct, including her duty of candor and adherence to the law and state ethics rules, should be held to the same standards that the law demands of all state and federal prosecutors. If she broke the law, played fast and loose with the rules, or violated state ethics rules, Willis should suffer the consequences.

Schedule an Interview: Hans von Spakovsky and Cully Stimson

5 Ugly Details the Biden Admin Won’t Tell You About the December Jobs Report

• The White House wasted no time in taking a victory lap after the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their monthly jobs report for December.
• Even a cursory look under the hood of this latest jobs report reveals an economy in trouble. Here are the five biggest red flags that you won’t hear from the White House press secretary but that everyone nonetheless should know.
• The BLS reported an increase in nonfarm payrolls of 216,000 in December, which beat Wall Street’s expectations. But that increase comes on the heels of November and October being revised down by 71,000 payrolls. One-third of the jobs allegedly added in December were ones we thought we already had.
• The second red flag is the unemployment rate. At first glance, a steady rate of 3.7% sounds great, but it wasn’t in December. The rate stayed low because about 680,000 people left the workforce and were no longer counted as unemployed. The labor force participation rate fell all the way back to where it was in February.
• Third on the list is the kinds of jobs being created: they’re all part-time.
• Fourth, the supposed job growth last month was disproportionately government jobs, accounting for about one-quarter of the total. That’s troubling because you need many private-sector jobs to support a single government one through tax revenue, and a three-to-one ratio is insufficient.
• A fifth concern from the BLS data is that native-born workers have been left behind for the last three years.

Schedule an Interview: EJ Antoni