The global virus to worry about now is not Covid but the worldwide lurch away from economic freedom and toward big government statism. Increasing worldwide poverty, may wind up killing far more people than COVID has.
Europe, South America, and of course the U.S. are all strolling down the road to serfdom. One of the first repercussions of this tragic mistake has been substantial wealth liquidation, as shown in the chart below. Worldwide wealth has declined by about $25 trillion since 2021.
Last week, global stocks lost $3.75 trillion in market cap, bringing their collective worth to $96.7 trillion. That's 100.6% of global GDP. In other words, stocks are now trading at their current earnings. If we believe the basic principle that stock prices are dictated by future earnings expectations, that means investors are collectively pricing in ZERO economic growth.
2) GOP Can And Should Force Spending Cuts – Here's How
Biden’s avalanche of spending has pushed outlays far above the allowed budget ceilings for FY2023. This overspending will trigger the Obama-era “PAYGO law.”
These statutory rules require a dollar-for dollar-reduction in spending for the amount Congress has exceeded the annual spending limits.
Waiving the budget rules has become routine – but it requires 60 votes in the Senate.
As Heritage Foundation budget expert Matthew Dickerson points out, “If Republicans hold firm in sticking to PAYGO, Biden will be required to cut more than $100 billion at the end of this Congress.”
All we need is 41 of the 50 Senate Republicans to do the right thing and vote for cuts. This will be a good litmus test to see whether Republicans are serious about cutting spending and debt.
Ah, the law of unintended consequences strikes again.
New Jersey has banned BOTH plastic bags and paper bags. Plastic straws can only be given out on request. This will help save the planet – or something like that.
But grocery shoppers need something to carry their food. NJ.com reports many shoppers are “simply leaving the store with their groceries stuffed in the shopping baskets… making the bins the latest grocery store convenience to disappear in the aftermath of the plastic bag ban.” This headline says it all:
When this takes effect, Joe Biden will have us on a list of travel vaccine mandate countries that has dwindled to China, North Korea, Pakistan, Indonesia, Libya, the Philippines, and... the United States. Embarrassing.
We’ve rarely seen a smackdown against political correctness better than the one that hit CNN’s Don Lemon this week when he tried to criticize the British Empire over slavery during the Queen’s funeral.
Hilary Fordwich, an expert on the British royal family, reacted sharply to Lemon’s suggestion that “reparations for colonialism” were “legitimate concerns” today:
DON LEMON, CNN: Some people want to be paid back and members of the public are wondering, ‘Why are we suffering when you are, you have all this vast wealth?’ Those are legitimate concerns.
HILARY FORDWICH: Well I think you’re right about reparations in terms of – if people want it though, what they need to do is, you always need to go back to the beginning of the supply chain. Where was the beginning of the supply chain?
That was in Africa. Across the entire world, when slavery was taking place, which was the first nation in the world that abolished slavery? It was the British.
In Great Britain they abolished slavery. 2,000 naval men died on the high seas trying to stop slavery. Why? Because the African kings were rounding up their own people. They had them in cages, waiting in the beaches.
I think you’re totally right. If reparations need to be paid, we need to go right back to the beginning of that supply chain and say, ‘Who was rounding up their own people and having them handcuffed in cages. Absolutely, that’s where they should start.
After her answer, the normally outspoken Lemon was stone-faced with nothing to say, so he quickly transitioned to the next segment. Congrats to Ms. Fordwich for a successful slap down.
