We’ve been stating for months that both the DEI and ESG gravy trains on Wall Street are finally coming to an unceremonious end. Who would have guessed the profit motive would be incompatible with mindless, unproductive virtue signaling and reverse racism? 

The pushback on DEI has been immense, with entire universities and corporations slashing their DEI departments. Subha Barry, former head of diversity at Merrill Lynch, told Bloomberg this weekend: “We’re past the peak.”

The report highlighted yet another shift on Wall Street, wherein programs open to people of color and women are “now open to all”. Imagine that…

For example, Goldman Sachs has adjusted its “Possibilities Summit,” previously exclusive to Black college students, to now welcome White students as well. Bank of America Corp. has expanded its internal programs, initially aimed at women and minorities, to include all employees. Furthermore, Bank of New York Mellon Corp. has been advised by legal counsel to reevaluate and potentially eliminate strict diversity metrics from its workforce evaluations, according to a new report from Bloomberg.

Executives at major banks, including Goldman Sachs, publicly affirm their commitment to diversity, despite acknowledging privately the challenges posed by a growing campaign against DEI initiatives led by figures like Elon Musk and Bill Ackman, the report says.

Efforts to recruit diverse talent through programs for women and minorities are being reassessed, along with other diversity measures within corporations. Bloomberg says the shift is notable compared to the ambitious diversity pledges made by CEOs following George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Almost as if it was just mindless lip service to silence the ‘woke mob’…

The recent Supreme Court decision against affirmative action in colleges has intensified legal challenges to corporate diversity efforts, with banks wary of becoming lawsuit targets over claims of reverse discrimination, the report says. 

“The legal assault on corporate diversity initiatives is gathering steam” after the Supreme Court’s rejection of affirmative action at colleges, the report says.  

While black people make up about 14% of the total population, their representation in the senior roles at banks like Citi, JP Morgan and Goldman remains 8.7%, 5% and 3.7%, respectively, the note says. However, these figures have grown significantly since 2019:

Several other financial institutions, including the Bank of New York and Bank of America are subtly altering their approaches to diversity and inclusion initiatives.

These changes range from modifying executive compensation linked to diversity progress, adjusting the language around D&I goals, reconsidering certain mentorship programs, and adapting recruitment strategies to avoid explicit references to race and gender.

Despite these adjustments, spokespeople for these banks assert their continued commitment to fostering an inclusive workplace. And, nonetheless, industry consultants (whose meaningless careers and paychecks rely solely on racial division and DEI initiatives to begin with) and some financial executives still emphasize the importance of persevering with D&I efforts, despite these internal and external pressures.

Industry consultant Duarte McCarthy told Bloomberg: “We’re not suggesting that things stop because there’s this fear factor. But rather, take a look.”

Ana Duarte McCarthy, former chief diversity officer at Citigroup concluded: “We’re at an interesting inflection point.” 

Yeah, the kind of inflection point that is going to see a lot of former “Chief Diversity Officers” scrambling through LinkedIn and updating their resumes…

By John Kingston of FreightWaves

With a Norfolk Southern derailment in Pennsylvania on Saturday that sent diesel fuel into a Lehigh Valley River, the already heated battle over control of the railroad with safety issues as a backdrop got even hotter. 

The derailment came after two days of charges, countercharges and missives flying back and forth over the safety records of both Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific, with leading government officials that regulate the rails leveling separate heavy criticism at the two companies. 

And while it hasn’t yet provoked any government response, the issue of safety and levels of employment could also be triggered by Friday’s news that BNSF had implemented a significant number of furloughs. 

In the proxy battle roiling Norfolk Southern, the activist investor group Ancora is recommending the replacement of eight new directors to the Norfolk Southern board. It also wants to replace CEO Alan Shaw with former UPS executive Jim Barber and name Jamie Boychuk, a former executive at CSX, to replace current COO Paul Duncan.

That fight now has the Pennsylvania derailment as part of the battle, and Ancora wasted no time Saturday coming out with a statement over the incident.

“Our proposed slate and management team are unanimous in their view that Norfolk Southern must become a safer and more reliable railroad before it can ever reach its full potential,” Ancora said in the statement. “Following this latest derailment, we call for the immediate termination of CEO Alan Shaw and stand ready to engage with the Company about an orderly reconstitution of the Board and a transition to capable management with a track record of actually delivering on safety commitments.”

The statement went on to say that “an incident like this, which is drawing national news coverage and resulting in more embarrassment for the railroad, should put an end to the Board’s unsustainable efforts to save a tainted CEO with no long-term future.3 How can anyone defend this?”

What happened?

According to news reports, the derailment took place in Lower Saucon Township, which is near the Allentown-Bethlehem area. There were no reports of injuries, although diesel fuel being carried in a tank car did spill, there were no reports of contamination or evacuations. Plastic pellets also spilled, according to the news reports. 

In a statement provided to FreightWaves on Sunday, a spokesperson said: “Norfolk Southern crews and contractors remain at the derailment site. Members of the NTSB have arrived and are investigating. Once they have completed their investigation of the scene, we will continue with site cleanup and begin work to restore the track. The area where the locomotives were in the water will remain contained with booms until any residual sheen has been removed.”

Saturday’s derailment comes after two days of back-and-forth over two of the U.S.-based Class 1 railroads that left heads spinning. The scorecard for the criticism and the responses went like this:

— Martin Oberman, chairman of the Surface Transportation Board, ripped into Ancora Associates for its proxy battle over Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) railroad. Oberman spoke to the Southeast Association of Rail Shippers 2024 Spring Meeting in Atlanta on Thursday, where he said Ancora “has nothing to say about what it could do better” than current management in running Norfolk Southern, adding, “I think we can assume that if Ancora succeeds in its bid to control NS, its next move will be to put the Brooklyn Bridge on the market.”

Ancora didn’t have any public response to Oberman’s comments, but on Friday, it sent a letter to the Norfolk Southern board, just a few days after the railroad released its 2024 proxy statement. The proxy revealed that in 2023 — the year when Norfolk Southern labored under the fallout from the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio — NS CEO Alan Shaw had total compensation of $13.41 million, compared to $9.78 million a year before.

— The second blast from a government official aimed at a railroad came from Amit Bose, the administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration. In a letter addressed to UP CEO Jim Vena,

Bose criticized recent furloughs implemented at Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP). “It is imperative that UP prioritizes safety above all else and takes immediate steps to address this issue, an issue disproportionately affecting UP workers since your railroad continues to furlough employees at a rate, based on available data, far outpacing that of any of your Class I peers.” Bose wrote.

— Union Pacific quickly responded to Bose’s comments with a letter from Vena, which said the FRA head was portraying an “inaccurate correlation between natural workforce fluctuations and safety.”

Oberman was harsh in his assessment of Ancora’s motives. “Several weeks ago, Ancora wrote me a letter,” Oberman said, according to a transcript released by the STB. “The essence of their message was that they had taken a $1 billion dollar stake in NS in order for it — quote — ‘to become a safer railroad.’ Really? What hedge fund raises $1 billion to promote safety anywhere?”

Oberman, as he has done before, criticized railroad focus on its operating ratio (OR), with the STB head expressing concern that a goal to reduce OR can come at the expense of both safety and performance. 

“Ancora principally and repeatedly focuses on a rapid lowering of the OR to drive cash payouts and raise its stock price, harshly criticizing present NS management for not making a lower OR the objective,” Oberman said. “We now know that this is wrong-headed thinking. Making OR the corporate objective is what led to elimination of thousands of workers which caused the service crisis.” 

The reference to the service crisis was from earlier in his speech when he recapped STB actions to force service improvements during the enormous system backups of 2022. 

Ancora’s Friday letter was addressed to Amy Miles, the non-executive chair of the NS board.  The letter said that Ancora — which as an activist investor has previously trained its sights on Forward Air (NASDAQ: FWRD) and C.H. Robinson (NASDAQ: CHRW) — said Shaw has “presided over industry-worst operating results, sustained share price underperformance and an ineffective and tone-deaf response to the preventable derailment in East Palestine.” It said Anchor had “offered viable solutions in the form of exceptional people with a strategic vision.”

Norfolk Southern’s stock price in the last 52 weeks is up about 14%. During that time, its fierce rival for business east of the Mississippi, CSX (NASDAQ: CSX), is up about 23.7% while Union Pacific is up 21.5%.

Focusing in on Shaw’s pay package from 2023

On the issue of Shaw’s pay, the Ancora letter said shareholders were “baffled” at the decision to give the CEO a raise in the same year as the East Palestine derailment and the fallout from it. 

“We challenge the Board’s determination that it had to adjust executive compensation in 2023 to

‘retain key talent,’” Ancora said, quoting a board statement. “We do not see how the Board could have actually viewed Mr. Shaw as a flight risk. In addition to being a more than 30-year insider at Norfolk Southern, he was a relatively new, unproven CEO off to an extremely rocky start. The fact that this decision was made suggests deference to management and a lack of respect for shareholders and stakeholders.”

UP furloughs at issue

In the back-and-forth surrounding Union Pacific, Bose said UP’s decision to furlough some worker is a sign that the railroad “has again chosen to prioritize cost-cutting measures over ensuring safe operations, jeopardizing the well-being of both UP’s workers and the public.”

“Furloughing maintenance of equipment workers puts a strain on workers across the railroad, leading to fatigue and potential errors that could have severe ramifications for both workers and the public,” Bose wrote. 

In a letter signed by Vena, UP responded to Bose’s criticism with several key rebuttals.

— It cited several statistical points about derailments, that “serious” derailments were down 26% in 2023 from 2019 levels, track-related derailments had declined 28% in the past 10 years, and that UP had recorded an 8.7% improvement in mainline derailments in 2023 versus 2021.

The Vena letter said “fluctuations in workforce needs are a natural component of operating the railroad … normal, cyclical and vary from year to year based on business needs, capital projects and weather.”

To support its criticism that Bose was not making distinctions among types of workers and railroad needs, Vena’s response said the Bose letter “combines different types of workers (Mechanical employees and Engineering employees) and work done on the railroad (equipment maintenance and capital projects), and therefore paints an incorrect and incomplete picture of the natural role workforce fluctuations play in operating a railroad year-round.”

“We’ve already begun seeing an increase in demand and have more employees working in January and February of this year,” Vena wrote.

The letter also said workers impacted by furloughs and layoffs can apply for other positions at Union Pacific. 

It’s been a long time coming, but the bulls are finally back in uranium. And with them comes the restart of multiple uranium projects that have been taken offline in the years while the commodity slouched in price. 

We have long stated here on Zero Hedge that nuclear power is an obvious win/win: it’s clean, it’s safe, it provides robust power and, most importantly to our liberal friends, it has minimal emissions. So why isn’t it more prominent?

In the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, uranium mining in the United States, particularly in Wyoming, Texas, Arizona, and Utah, experienced a significant downturn.

This decline wasn’t helped by uranium prices plummeting and nations such as Germany and Japan moving away from nuclear energy. However, as global efforts to reduce emissions renew interest in nuclear power, and as leading uranium producers face challenges in meeting demand, prices for the metal have risen sharply, a new Bloomberg report says.

This resurgence in prices is offering previously unprofitable American uranium mines an opportunity to re-enter the market and address the supply shortfall.

According to the report, as the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada’s annual meeting takes place in Toronto, attracting thousands from the mining industry, uranium will be a key focus.

With participants including major uranium firms like Denison Mines Corp., Fission Uranium Corp., and IsoEnergy Ltd., the event highlights the growing importance of uranium in the context of climate change and nuclear power.

The International Atomic Energy Agency predicts a significant rise in uranium demand, foreseeing a need for over 100,000 metric tons annually by 2040, necessitating a near doubling of current mining and processing efforts.

Scott Melbye, executive vice president of Texas-based Uranium Energy Corp. said: “We’re in an old-fashioned, plain-and-simple supply squeeze. Demand is increasing again, with new reactors coming online.”

John Ciampagli, Chief Executive Officer of Sprott Asset Management added: “The industry is clearly trying to respond with smaller mines reopening, but when you have a mine that hasn’t operated for that long, it’s obviously not very substantive.”

Cameco has resumed operations at MacArthur River and Key Lake, the world’s largest high-grade uranium mine and mill in Saskatchewan, Canada, after halting from 2018 to 2021 due to poor market conditions. 

The reopening of U.S. mines signifies a comeback for an industry that nearly vanished five years ago, with production plummeting to 174,000 pounds in 2019 from a peak of 44 million pounds in 1980. This decline was accompanied by increased reliance on uranium imports from nations such as Canada, Australia, Kazakhstan, and Russia.

Amid geopolitical tensions, particularly sanctions on Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine affecting uranium shipments from Kazakhstan, the U.S. is motivated by both supply security and political reasons to boost its uranium production. The Uranium Producers of America suggests the U.S. will need to open 8 to 10 major new mines within the next decade to meet demand.

Submitted by Drew Allen,

During the debut of his new Saturday show on the General Michael Flynn-backed Patriot TV, Drew Allen – host of the Drew Allen Show – opened by claiming the Democrats stole the 2020 election.

“They cheated!” Allen says plainly.

Allen, of course, isn’t the first to say it. While the claim isn’t novel, his explanation is—and brilliant too. 

Allen says:

“I want you to listen very carefully. This is very, very important. In fact, it’s the key to understanding the world that we’re living in right now in the United States of America. Nothing that is happening can make sense to you unless you understand one thing. And this is something that you are forbidden from believing. Alright, this is the key to everything. Are you ready? The Democrats stole the 2020 election. They cheated! Alright, if you believe that, you can understand what’s going on. You have a lens to comprehend the world that we’re living in—the insanity. But if you don’t believe it, nothing makes sense.”

Allen explains that when the Democrats started prosecuting Trump, “what they thought was gonna happen is that the American people were going to abandon Trump.”

He points out that “…it didn’t. It had the opposite impact. It backfired on them. What actually happened was Donald Trump’s poll numbers improved. Improved! So they didn’t know what to do. They had to double down on that strategy.”

“They want a Richard Nixon situation,” Allen points out “and it didn’t happen. They cannot fathom that Trump is still standing.”

Allen plays a clip of Democrat lawyer Marc Elias to prove his point.

In the clip Elias says:

“how they decided that the candidate who is going to be best as their standard bearer is Donald Trump, is not just sickening from a standpoint of American politics, but is actually baffling from a matter of partisan strategy. I mean, it is hard to imagine a worse candidate for them to put forward, a candidate with more vulnerabilities than Donald Trump. The fact that the Republican Party itself is unwilling to just say he is out of bounds, he is too toxic, and he will not be out standard bearer…”

Allen points out:

“You hear what he’s saying there right? He wants to choose our candidate…in his opinion he cannot comprehend how the American people, the Republican voter has not ditched Trump. They do not want to face Trump in 2024 because why? Because they stole 2020 and they’re worried about 2024 again.”

Allen goes on to explain how the latest Democrat Party meltdown over the Supreme Court taking up the Trump immunity appeal proves his point beyond doubt. 

“The Hill, Fortune Magazine, Axios, NBC, they all had these polls that got them giddy with excitement…for example an NBC news poll recently it showed that former President Donald Trump uh leading current President Joe Biden by 5 points among registered voters, well, when the surveys final question re-asks voters what their ballot choice would be if Trump is found guilty and convicted of a felony this year Biden narrowly pulls ahead of Trump.”

“So they were banking on what?” Patriot TV host Allen asks.

“Getting a conviction of Trump because they believe, because their pollsters told them that one of their paths to victory was dependent, perhaps their only path to victory apart from cheating…their success in 2024 was heavily dependent upon getting a conviction.

And so with the Supreme Court coming in and basically ensuring that no conviction was going to happen before November they’re losing their minds because why? They stole 2020 and they don’t believe they can beat Trump in 2024. See it’s making so much sense now right?”

The Drew Allen Show is the most exciting new addition to Patriot TV and a new episode will air each Saturday. Allen is also the author of America’s Last Stand: Will You Vote to Save or Destroy America in 2024?, a new book lauded as a sequel to Thomas Paine’s Common Sense.

Watch the episode here.

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate is edging closer to 7%, having stayed below 6.6% since May 2023. With mortgage rates remaining high, we ask this very simple question: Will the high rate environment deter homebuyers from listing their homes as the spring home-buying season fast approaches? 

Let’s take a look at the latest inventory data from residential real estate brokerage Redfin, which shows new home listings jumped 13% year-over-year for the four weeks ending Feb. 25, the most significant increase in three years. 

“Total inventory is also improving: Active listings are flat from a year ago, marking the first time in nine months the total number of homes for sale hasn’t declined,” the report said. 

The increase in new listings is a welcoming sign as 2023 headwinds in the housing market will persist this year. This includes elevated mortgage rates, an affordability crisis, and record-low housing stock – this makes for a perfect unaffordability recipe. 

The good news is buyers are getting more homes to choose from despite elevated housing costs. As of Feb., the average homebuyer’s mortgage payment was around $2,671, just $47 shy of last October’s record high. 

In a separate report, the real estate news website HousingWire noted:

“Inventory is very seasonal, and we are about to start our seasonal increase in inventory. But even before that seasonal boost, we are showing year-over-year growth in inventory despite higher rates. Most home sellers are buyers of homes, so the action we are seeing this year is a healthy step in the right direction to get more balance in the housing market.” 

Another report from Realtor.com also showed an increase in housing inventory for the week ending Feb. 24: 

“Active inventory increased, with for-sale homes 17.8% above year ago levels. For a 16th straight week, active listings registered above prior year level, which means that today’s home shoppers see more for-sale homes. In fact, the January Realtor.com Housing Trends Report showed that 2024 had the most abundant level of inventory in the most recent four years. Nevertheless, the number of homes on the market is still down nearly 40% compared to what was typical in 2017 to 2019.”

Meanwhile, new home sales in January disappointed as mortgage rates are back on the rise. We shared with readers last month that new home supply ticked higher. 

The increase in housing supply might indicate a slower rise in home prices this year compared to recent years. 

Chief economist at First American Financial Corporation Mark Fleming recently noted a “flat stretch” for home prices is ahead:

“If the 2020-2021 housing market was too hot, then the 2023 market was probably too cold, but 2024 won’t yet be just right.” 

The problem with the housing market is that if rates cool too quickly, it could ignite another buying wave. So if rates bounced between 6.5% – 7%, inventories could continue building, pressuring prices lower. 

By Benjamin Picton of Rabobank

We’re going to build a (tariff) wall…

Crude oil prices spiked on Friday evening following news that OPEC+ and Russia will extend production cuts through to June of this year. Brent closed 2% higher at $83.55/bbl, which means that prices have now risen by more than $6/bbl since the start of the year. Gold also caught a bid on Friday night to close the week at $2,082/ounce. This followed weaker than expected ISM survey data out on the United States that saw 2-year yields fall 9bps to 4.53% and the S&P500 hit fresh all-time-highs. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin surge continues apace after prices for ‘digital gold’ finished the week slightly above $62,500.

Judging from the price action last week, the everything rally remains resilient to the effects of monetary tightening. Have we sprung a monetary leak somewhere that is providing mysterious liquidity into markets? Or is this all just a huge lag effect as the Covid-era torrents of easy money continue to wash through the economy and the US deficit remains close to 6.5% of GDP?

Whatever the case, some of the moves are very interesting. News has emerged of a crypto whale dubbed ‘Mr 100’ who has been quietly accumulating a $3.1bn stash of Bitcoin. Decrypt.co reports that the mysterious whale is unlikely to be US-domiciled, and unlikely to be one of the new Bitcoin ETF operators since those have already disclosed their blockchain addresses. Could a central bank somewhere be buying crypto assets?

There is plenty on the calendar this week for markets to digest, but of particular interest is the National Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. The meeting begins on Tuesday and will include an updated growth target for the Chinese economy. Last year’s ‘modest’ 5% target was exceeded by two-tenths of a percentage point after helpful base effects and data revisions helped the economy over the line. The speculation is that the CCP will again set 5% as the official goal, although our own China watcher, Teeuwe Mevissen, expects growth of just 4.6% in the Middle Kingdom this year.

In the United States we have the non-farm payrolls report at the end of the week, but on a longer view the possibility of universal tariffs will have much more structural bearing on who produces  what and where, and for how much, and to be sold to who. This Daily last week canvased the possibility of outright bans on Chinese auto imports into the United States as the Biden White House attempts to outbid Donald Trump on America First protectionism. Trump’s threats of 10% universal tariffs, with tariffs of 60% or more on Chinese goods, would be certainly be a big structural change that, in our view, could reignite inflation. It also (by design) poses risks to the Chinese growth model.

With real-estate and infrastructure investment already reeling from heavy debt loads, a loss of confidence and Xi Xinping’s Common Prosperity initiatives to rein-in speculation on house prices, the China model will be even more reliant on production and exports. It’s worth asking the question whether that can still work in a world where the world’s biggest market is potentially slapping a 60% tax on your exports. Of course, Chinese goods could flow into other markets like Europe, but if the Trump tariffs are enacted it would take all of 5 minutes before European leaders follow suit in an effort to protect their own sputtering industry from Chinese competition.

So where does this leave China? The worst case would be massive oversupply, deflation and economic depression as China fails to escape the Middle Income Trap. The alternative might be economic reorganization away from a production-led economy toward a more balanced growth model that emphasises internal consumption. Such a reorganization would also start to address one of the major (but not the only) impediment to the adoption of CNY as a reserve currency: China’s enormous trade surplus, but it would stand at odds with Xi Xinping thought that sees consumerism as decadent and production as virtuous. That’s a vicious circle to square, but if it is to ever happen, we should expect to see early signs this week.

This week will be important for other reasons. We are now one week out from the date at which the Fed will cease issuing new loans under the BTFP program. Regular readers will remember that this was the liquidity facility put in place during the mini banking crisis last year. Under the terms of the program, the Fed accepts collateral from the banking system while paying out the par value (!) of the securities in cash. Questions remain over what will happen to US regional banks with a large share of commercial real estate loans on the balance sheet (many due for refinance shortly!) once the banking system can no longer pretend that those loans are not underwater.

It may be the case that the Fed had hoped that they would be cutting rates by now and the capitalisation rates on commercial real estate would look less bad as a result. Unfortunately, last week’s PCE data did little too further the case for imminent cuts. PCE rose by 0.3% in January, but if you move the decimal a couple of places it becomes obvious how close we came to a 0.4% reading instead. One Swallow does not make a summer, but the January PCE result marks a substantial acceleration compared to December, November and October. That’s despite being helped by lower fuel prices that are unlikely to be replicated in February. The +0.4% core reading was the highest since January of last year, and the +0.6% services ex housing and energy reading was the highest since December of 2021.

In Europe last week the inflation story was similar. Eurozone preliminary CPI for February rose at the fastest pace since April last year. It was up 0.6% m-o-m, which translates to a 2.6% y-o-y figure. That was a little below the 2.8% figure for January but higher than the consensus estimate of 2.5%. The core reading printed at 3.1% versus an analyst consensus of 2.9%. So the direction is right, but progress is slow, and as our Head of Macro Research, Elwin de Groot, pointed out in a piece last week, the Red Sea shipping disruptions could pose a substantial upside risk to Eurozone price pressures.

So, for the moment at least we have encountered a bump in the road back to low and stable inflation. Central banks ought to be cognizant of the risks in cutting rates while loads of asset classes are already making new highs every other day, and the spectre of geopolitics looms as a potential spoiler for markets that think only in terms of free-flowing trade and capital. In a world of rapid change, the ability to think outside accepted paradigms is becoming more and more important.

In a episode that underscores the tensions straining Israel’s wartime unity government, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly irate over a senior cabinet minister’s unauthorized trip to Washington this week to meet with US officials. 

Benny Gantz, a relative centrist and one of Netanyahu’s principal political rivals, arrived in Washington on Sunday afternoon. He’s slated to meet on Monday with Vice President Kamala Harris and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. On Tuesday, he’ll talk with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and he will also meet senior Congressional leaders during his stay. There’s some possibility that President Biden will opt to join one of the White House sessions, sources tell Israeli outlet Ynet News. 

The first Netanyahu heard of the trip was when Gantz called him on Friday to spring the news and ask for Netanyahu’s input about what to communicate to American officials, the Times of Israel reports. The call grew heated, with Netanyahu scolding Gantz, and telling him that “The State of Israel has only one prime minister.”   

The prime minister’s office doesn’t consider Gantz’s trip to be an official one, since it’s happening without Netanyahu’s permissions. Consistent with that view, Netanyahu ordered Israel’s US ambassador, Michael Herzog, to refrain from providing any assistance to Gantz during his visit. He also blocked government financing of Gantz’s travel, which will take him to the United Kingdom next. 

Four days after the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion of southern Israel, Gantz joined Netanyahu in forming an emergency unity government. Nearly five months into the war, Netanyahu is embattled and deeply unpopular. Many Israelis say he’s to blame for the Israel Defense Forces being caught off-guard by the Hamas attack. Families of Israelis taken hostage have mounted protests demanding Netanyahu approve a prisoner swap. 

A February poll found that, were an election to be held, an opposition block anchored by Gantz’s National Unity party would clobber Netanyahu’s far right coalition — by a 75- to 45-seat margin in the Knesset.  That makes Gantz a seeming prime minister-in-waiting, which helps explain why his self-initiated trip to Washington would leave Netanyahu fuming.  

Netanyahu returned to the prime minister’s office last January by assembling a coalition of religious and ultra-nationalist extremists unlike any seen in the country’s history. With many Democrats angry over Biden’s backing of Israel’s retaliatory destruction in Gaza and the resulting humanitarian catastrophe, the White House would clearly prefer to deal with a more centrist, Gantz-led government. In late February, Biden fired a shot during a late-night television appearance:

“Israel has had the overwhelming support of the vast majority of nations. If it keeps this up with this incredibly conservative government they have, and [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben Gvir and others… they’re going to lose support from around the world, and that is not in Israel’s interest.”

Over the weekend, Israel opted out of sending a delegation to ceasefire discussions in Cairo, sharply contradicting rosy White House statements that Israel had already “basically accepted” a six week ceasefire proposal in Gaza. 

While in DC, Gantz will also meet with leaders of AIPAC — the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The enormously influential group acts as a de facto lobbying arm of the Israeli government, but without having to register its members as agents of a foreign government, as would otherwise be required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act. 

On Sunday, Politico reported that AIPAC unveiled a $100 million war chest it will use in America’s 2024 elections to defeat candidates of either party who are guilty of not backing Israel to extent AIPAC finds acceptable.  

Authored by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,

“She’s so transparently weak and sort of ridiculous and doesn’t know anything, and just thinks that jumping up and down and making these absurd blanket statements, and repeating bumper stickers, is just like leadership. A self-confident advanced society would never allow Nikki Haley to advance.”

– Tucker Carlson

The most highly educated people in this world are often the most willfully ignorant of what is really happening. The college credentialed crowd, especially those who “earned” them within the last twenty years, are more likely than not far less intelligent than the supposed “conspiracy theorists” who have questioned every narrative spun by the masters of the universe and their regime media propagandists over the last two decades.

The skeptics among us who assess every Deep State engineered event, designed to create outrage, fear, anger, and obedience, with the necessary suspicion and doubt, are conscious of how the real world operates and are taking precautions to navigate through the coming storms.

Among the dozens of false narratives spun by the black widow spider psychopaths, which include the Ukraine war, Gaza genocide, safe & secure border, safe and effective vaccines, safe and secure elections, the armed insurrection where no one was armed, Russiagate, declining inflation, and strong growing economy, the continuation of Nikki Haley’s ridiculously pathetic campaign for the Republican nomination. If you haven’t noticed, Trump has trounced this warmongering RINO, Liz Cheney wannabe in every primary/caucus thus far. All the other candidates dropped out, as instructed, leaving only Nimarata as the chosen option of the Deep State and their deep pocketed billionaire donors.

When something makes no sense and the behavior of a feckless politician seems irrational, there is something wicked going on behind the curtain and will not be revealed until those running the show decide it will benefit them financially, politically and increase their power over the masses. As Haley continues to pretend to be a viable candidate, with her coffers being filled by shadowy figures meeting in smokey backrooms, I was reminded of another pitiful excuse for a candidate in 2020.

A senile, old, corrupt, child sniffing coot, who was nothing more than a laughingstock on the national scene as Obama’s token establishment white guy, making a living as the Big Guy in his crackhead son’s worldwide shakedown operations in Ukraine, China and wherever he could make a buck. In case you didn’t remember, he wasn’t even an afterthought in the 2020 Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire primary.

Bernie the commie and mayor buttplug crushed slow Joe.  He was even losing to Pocahontas.

Anyone with some self-respect and self awareness would have dropped out, but for some unexplainable reason he stayed in the race and miraculously “won” the nomination with his inspirational speeches and glorious vision for the country. Or was he selected by those who knew they could rig the election while the basement dummy spent his days shitting his pants and taking naps? Biden was a Trojan horse installed by the Deep State controllers of this farce of an empire. Now this drooling dementia ridden pedophile is barely functional and would clearly get trounced by Trump in the general election, even with the Democrat election rigging machine in full steal mode.

Nikki will be trounced on Super Tuesday.

If she does not drop out, you know something evil is being planned.

I see only two possibilities for the Deep State funding of Haley’s continued national embarrassment.

They either plan to assassinate Trump or imprison him, therefore needing a useful idiot on par with Bush to continue their wars, destruction of our civil society, ultimate demise of our country, and transfer of power to a totalitarian global regime.

Nikki is just the neo-con, low IQ, diversity stooge for the job. Their efforts to imprison Trump seem to be failing, so the CIA, FBI, and rest of the Surveillance State traitors are likely planning a false flag assassination of Trump they can pin on a patsy who furthers one of their other false narratives.

They need Nikki, because Biden’s VP is an honest to God moron, seen as a cackling joke by 95% of Americans. Biden is finished. They will not run him in November. He will step down at the convention and be replaced by Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, or Gavin Newsom.

All I know for sure is the next nine months will be an epic shitstorm, with potential assassinations, civil war, global war, financial chaos and collapse, and possibly the end of our nation as we know it.

Buckle up, the ride is about to get bumpy.

The woke movement is not a civil rights movement fighting for equality, it’s a political/cult movement fighting for supremacy.  Once this fact is understood every other agenda being pursued by the political left today becomes crystal clear. 

When a movement claims to be “fighting for equality” the insinuation is that the people involved do not have equal rights under the law.  Yet, whenever these activists are asked to give examples of rights they want that others have, they stutter and stumble.  The great trick used by the political left is that by simply saying they are fighting for equality, this is a way to automatically justify every one of their actions no matter how antagonistic and insidious.  By simply saying they are fighting for equality, they paint themselves as the “good guys” even when they are the bad guys.

But what is the true leftist vision for “diversity, equity and inclusion?”  What do they think equal rights looks like since equal rights under the law are apparently not enough? 

We have been seeing examples of what they really want it in towns and cities across the US and Canada – They want total saturation of their ideology in every corner of society.  “Equality” for them means that no one is allowed to escape.  Everyone must be bombarded with activist propaganda everyday and everywhere, from movies to commercials to news media to local parades to public schools and even crosswalks and flagpoles. 

No other group, political or religious, gets this kind of special treatment in America or Canada.  No other group is offered so much privilege and protection.     

The holy grail for the woke movement today is the saturation of woke symbols in public spaces protected by government force.  In other words, they want pride flags to become as ubiquitous on the streets and in government buildings as the American flag in America or the Canadian flag in Canada.  Why is it acceptable that the woke movement is given precedence over all other ideals?

A small town in Alberta (Westlock) asked this very same question after their leftist council and mayor supported a campaign to raise pride flags on public flag poles and paint a pride flag mural on a primary crosswalk.  A motion was offered to make Westlock’s public spaces politically neutral, which the council promptly shot down.  So, instead, the public put the decision to a vote.  

In a narrow win of 663 to 639 votes a rule banning all displays of political messaging from public land was passed, and  leftists across Canada are furious.  The Canadian media quickly moved to admonish the vote in an attempt to shame the town.  In the interview below, the Mayor of Westlock, Jon Kramer, repeats DEI mantras, arguing that “inclusion is non-negotiable” as if brainwashed.  The propaganda message?  Not putting far-left symbols on display on public land in your town is a sign that your town is hateful.  In other words, signal your virtue at all times or else… 

In response, activists in Canada have falsely portrayed the Westlock vote as a decision to ban all pride flags.  The disinformation is obviously designed to provoke outrage by leftists across the country.  Though progressives often worship at the altar of pure democracy, they still refuse to accept any majority decision that does not go their way.  Leftists seem to assert that the close nature of the vote negates the outcome of the vote.  Groups say they will send pride banners to residents of the town to be placed on their lawns.  If they can’t have saturation on public property, then they want saturation on private property.

Even if you aren’t conspiracy minded in the slightest, you are probably beginning to wonder if this is an attempt by a political group to overwhelm the existing culture and take over?  Yes, that is exactly what is happening.  If any other political movement tried to force their symbols on a target population the way pride activists do, they would be run out of these towns on a rail and no one would be surprised.  But, when woke people are shown the door, the narrative is that “bigots” are waging a war on change.  Of course, not all change is good or positive or warranted.  

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

Fed Chair Jerome Powell meets with Congress this week. He will face pressure on two different fronts.

Image courtesy of Mortgage News Daily, annotations by Mish

Pressure on Two Fronts

Bloomberg reports Powell to Face Pressure on Rates From Democrats, Bank Rules From Republicans

The Fed chair heads to Capitol Hill on Wednesday and Thursday for his semiannual testimony before Congress, two years after the central bank began its aggressive battle against surging inflation. With the economy powering along and inflation inching toward the Fed’s sweet spot, Powell will make the case for why officials are in no rush to lower rates.

In a Jan. 30 letter, Senator Sherrod Brown urged Powell to cut rates “early this year,” arguing that high rates are hurting small businesses and putting homeownership out of reach for many Americans. That missive from the Senate Banking Committee chair, an Ohio Democrat who is running for reelection this year, could give cover to other committee Democrats who want to press Powell on rates.

Housing

Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen, in an interview last week, said the Fed needs to focus on housing costs “and taking actions necessary to make things more affordable for more Americans.”

“Right now those high interest rates are actually increasing costs for families because one of the big parts of costs for families is housing,” Senator Elizabeth Warren, a persistent Powell critic, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “It’s time to get those interest rates down.”

Capital Rules

Republicans will use Powell’s appearance to grill him on the Fed’s proposal to ramp up capital requirements for big banks by almost 20%.

Election Year

Powell has repeatedly said the looming election plays no role in policy decisions, but some Fed watchers worry rate cuts this year — investors are betting the first reduction will come in June — could be perceived as the Fed giving a boost to Democrats.

Elizabeth Warren Hoot of the Day

Home prices are at record highs. Just what does she think will happen to home prices and inflation if Powell cuts rates too early?

Small businesses are struggling but why is that?

The answer is Biden’s free money to students, Biden’s regulatory madness, Biden’s union push, and massive minimum wage hikes, especially in places like California are all highly inflationary.

The Fed’s Big Problem

On average, the economy looks OK. But averages are misleading. Several large groups of people are struggling. They all have one thing in common.

Case-Shiller home price index, CPI rent index, and the index of hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory workers.

The Fed’s Big Problem is There Are Two Economies But Only One Interest Rate

Who’s Unhappy?

Those looking to buy a home but cannot afford the record high prices, are not faring well in this economy.

The last great time to buy a home was in 2012. Over the next eight years, home prices moved further and further away from wages.

When the Covid pandemic hit in 2020, we had record QE, record fiscal stimulus, mortgage rates hit record lows, and inflation hit the highest levels in 40 years.

When the Fed slashed interest rates to zero, mortgage rates fell below 3.0% for an extended period allowing everyone to refinance at 3.0 percent or below. Most did.

Winners and Losers

• The homeowners are generally doing OK. The home ownership rate is 65.7 percent.

• The 34.3 percent who rent are generally not doing OK.

The study did not break things down by home owners vs renters, but I suspect most of the use is by renters.

According to the latest CPI report, rent was up at least 0.4 percent for the 29th straight month. Shelter, a broader category, rose 0.6 percent. Food rose 0.4 percent.

CPI data from the BLS, chart by Mish

Credit Card and Auto Delinquencies Soar

Credit card debt surged to a record high in the fourth quarter. Even more troubling is a steep climb in 90 day or longer delinquencies.

Record High Credit Card Debt

Credit card debt rose to a new record high of $1.13 trillion, up $50 billion in the quarter. Even more troubling is the surge in serious delinquencies, defined as 90 days or more past due.

For nearly all age groups, serious delinquencies are the highest since 2011 at best.

Auto Loan Delinquencies

Serious delinquencies on auto loans have jumped from under 3 percent in mid-2021 to to 5 percent at the end of 2023 for age group 18-29.

Age group 30-39 is also troubling. Serious delinquencies for age groups 18-29 and 30-39 are at the highest levels since 2010.

For further discussion please see Credit Card and Auto Delinquencies Soar, Especially Age Group 18 to 39

Generational Homeownership Rates

Home ownership rates courtesy of Apartment List

The above chart is from the Apartment List’s 2023 Millennial Homeownership Report

Those struggling with rent are more likely to Millennials and Zoomers than Generation X, Baby Boomers, or members of the Silent Generation.

The same age groups struggling with credit card and auto delinquencies.

On Average Everything is Great

Average it up as Fed and all the clueless economic and political writers do, and things look great.

This is why we have seen countless stories attempting to explain why people should be happy.

Hello Mr. Powell

There are two economies (the homeowners/asset holders and everyone else). However, there is only one interest rate. Patience please says Powell.

Lowering rates risks risks fueling the housing bubble and the most expensive stock market in history.

It’s Powell’s move. No matter what he does Elizabeth Warren will howl.

She wants lower interest rates, but that will stoke inflation and it will not do a damn thing for renters who don’t have a down payment and cannot a house no matter what the mortgage rate is.

This is a dilemma of the Fed’s making and there is no solution.