1) Biden Admin Energy Policy: Yes To Drilling In Venezuela; No To Drilling In America
We almost fell off our rocking chairs when we read on Saturday this headline which you have probably seen by now:
As we’ve documented many times on these pages, the U.S. oil production from states like Alaska, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Texas if Biden if the Biden Admin had simply stuck with the Trump America First energy policy. But instead, we have to get our oil and gas from Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and other OPEC nations.
Wait. Venezuela is, as Democratic Senator Menendez of New Jersey noted over the weekend, “a criminal dictatorship” with some of the worst human rights violations in the world. Nicolas Maduro is a communist thug and the idea that he is going to implement “free and fair elections” is a pipe dream.
CTUP’s co-founder Steve Moore appeared on Fox and Friends yesterday to explain this nonsensical energy Biden policy which is bad for the U.S. economy, harmful to U.S. national security, and a way to aid and abet enemies of freedom.
With wages (5% growth) falling behind consumer price inflation (8% growth), how is it that Americans continue with their spending binge? A big part of the answer, of course, was the massive government spending – which put money in people’s pockets but did so by increasing government debt burdens. This is the essence of Modern Monetary Theory.
The latest Federal Reserve Bank of New York Household Debt and Credit Report indicates it's not just Uncle Sam that is massively increasing its debt burden.
The increase in credit card debt is higher now than at any time in at least 20 years.
What seems clear to us is that Americans are maintaining their living standards and purchases by plunging further into debt. The lower-income Americans are taking on the most debt:
The silver lining is that although defaults and delinquencies are on the rise, consumer delinquency rates are still low historically.
You have to wonder how long that is going to last and whether banks and retail merchants are going to be facing a surge of defaults if the economy slips into recession.
3) The App Marketplace Isn’t Broken! Please Congress Don’t “Fix” It
Over the past decade, the app market has exploded by more than tenfold. Today there are more than 8.5 million(!) different apps, with most of them operated on platforms or phones maintained by Apple and Google. If you have a cell phone, you’re probably accessing dozens of Apps every day for commerce, finance, health, education, or fun.
One of the most amazing things about Apps is that – much like the internet – most of them are free or nearly free to use. It is an industry that has provided massive benefits to consumers at little cost.
So naturally, Congress wants to regulate it – specifically Apple and Google for the sin of offering these services on their platforms, but choosing which Apps to offer. Progressive antitrust crusaders, Senators Richard Blumenthal and Amy Klobuchar are leading the charge. Shockingly, they’re getting help in this effort from otherwise dependable conservative Republican Senators.
If we believe in the free market and private property, then it seems clear that Google and Apple should have control over what apps run on their own devices and which don’t. After all, it is their platform – they did build it. Does Walmart have to place every t-shirt and book on their store shelves? Does Safeway have to carry every variety of cereal?
Who else should decide on how Apps are priced and operated? Politicians? Federal regulators? Let’s not forget that the digital age has progressed at warp speed in no small part because we have allowed the internet services to be pretty much a regulation-free island. That’s paid off in spades.
The surest way to impede and corrupt the app market would be to pass progressive legislation like the Open App Markets Act.
We don't know about you, but we are thrilled that FINALLY after nearly three years of inhumane and brutish lockdown and stay-at-home orders, Chinese freedom fighters are pushing back against Xi and the communist regime. There are even chants and signs demanding that Xi resign.
Beijing had pledged to back off its militaristic and ineffective "Zero COVID" strategy, but now it is back in full force.
A fire last week that killed 10 people in a high-rise building in Xinjiang has sparked protests nationwide as mounting evidence indicates residents could not escape in time because the building was locked down.
Last week, officials in Henan province apologized for the death of a 4-month-old baby. She died after a delay in receiving medical attention while suffering from vomiting and diarrhea in quarantine.
President Xi Jinping insists he will continue to shut down access to any area in China that has even one COVID case. He claims the Chinese response is superior to that of the U.S. and other Western nations that have ended lockdowns. But as we've shown with myriad evidence from around the world, the costs of lockdowns are an order of magnitude higher than any health gains.
Meanwhile, China has perpetuated COVID by banning the use of more effective American vaccines. The lockdown of factories in China is causing more supply chain gridlock.
The fiasco in China only gives further support for a strategic decoupling from China's trading system.
5) Speaking Of Lockdowns, Canada's Commission Hears Evidence They Weren’t Needed To Shut Down Freedom Convoy Truckers
Remember the brigade of truckers who were protesting COVID orders in Canada? In response, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assumed emergency powers to break up convoys of protestors against his draconian vaccine mandate policies.
The government assumed never-before-used powers to freeze the bank accounts of protesters, ban travel to protest sites, and force trucks to tow vehicles at the protests.
Now a commission has finished hearing more than 70 witnesses in an effort to determine if the government’s actions were legal. The last witness was Trudeau himself who when asked about the frustrations and worries of protesters: he replied, “It was clear that it wasn’t that they just wanted to be heard. They wanted to be obeyed.”
We at CTUP were never in favor of allowing protesters to block bridges and normal functioning commerce. But it turns out the border crossings were already cleared of protesters when three days later, Trudeau assumed the emergency powers.
Police agencies have testified to the commission that emergency powers weren’t necessary to end the protest. Senior government officials were shown to have harbored doubts. And Canada’s spy agency did not find the protests posed a threat to Canada’s security.
We have here yet another abuse of governmental power during the pandemic. We’re hoping that Canada’s commission gives Trudeau’s government a severe rap on the knuckles for its misuse of emergency law.
What we’ve said about the power grab in America is also true north of our border: NEVER AGAIN!
