Authored by Doug Casey via InternationalMan.com,

International Man: The World Economic Forum (WEF) describes its mission as the “international organization for public-private cooperation.”

What do you make of the WEF and the power it wields?

Doug Casey: “International organization for public-private cooperation” is a code phrase for economic fascism – which is to say, the hand-in-glove melding of the political power of the State with the economic power of corporations.

Things like the WEF, and other NGOs (non-governmental organizations), institutes, and think tanks, have proliferated in recent years. They’re almost all destructive parasites on productive society.

Almost all of them are leftist, statist, and collectivist in orientation. They’re typically populated by intellectuals and academics and funded by tax-exempt foundations, usually set up by elderly do-gooders interested in leaving a “legacy.”

The WEF is by far the most successful of the breed. Instead of just cadging donations so intellectuals could hang around and seem prestigious, in 1971, Klaus Schwab formed a club where the rich and powerful could discuss ideas with other members of the overlord class. Political and financial types could find a philosophical home, disguising the quest for money and power with a patina of benevolence. It’s become an amazingly large and powerful organization. They have roughly 800 full-time employees, most of them very highly paid. They have an annual budget of over $300 million. Their balance sheet indicates that the WEF is worth over $1 billion, funded by major corporations who give it millions of dollars, as do various governments. Most of the world’s political leaders and corporations are members.

Schwab was very clever to have put together an organization where the richest, most powerful, and most influential people in the world are charged huge amounts to be introduced to each other and talk about how they can become even richer, more powerful, and more influential.

It seems clear that members of the WEF have to toe the party line or be disinvited. Nobody wants to be excommunicated from the WEF or cut off from association with other rich and powerful people. It’s safe to say that WEF members share a common philosophy, one that’s in line with Schwab’s weltanschauung.

FWIW, I think it’s wrong for public corporations to make political, charitable, or indeed any kind of contributions. A corporation’s raison d’etre is to generate money for its shareholders, not allow management to play big shot. Managements often like to give away shareholders’ money; it costs them nothing, but they reap the prestige of giving. Better that the money be distributed to shareholders so they can dispose of it as they wish. If that were the case, outfits like the WEF would have a lot less money and power. And wouldn’t be in a position to promote the pernicious ideas it does.

For instance, it would appear that Klaus Schwab actually originated, or at least popularized, the term “stakeholder.” Stakeholderism believes that business is obligated to treat employees, customers, local residents, and anyone who claims to be affected by business as if they had some right to what a company produces. People who identify as stakeholders easily develop into mooches and leeches. Schwab was also an early supporter of the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) movements. And political correctness in general.

With as much money, power, and influence as the WEF has, it’s easy for them to groom up-and-comers. They created several sub-organizations for people who are under 40 years old—where they can reinforce their beliefs that the world ought to go in a certain way—under the direction of WEF-type people.

Schwab has to be complimented for having built the WEF from nothing and making himself one of the most powerful people in the world. But the WEF is a dangerous and despicable organization. It’s basically what’s known as a self-licking ice cream cone—it serves no useful purpose but to perpetuate itself and its members.

International Man: Yuval Noah Harari is a key adviser to the WEF.

He has risen to fame as reviewers and editors have anointed him as a public intellectual.

What’s your take on the rise of Harari?

Doug Casey: Harari is a perfect example of how, when an organization like the WEF gets in the back of somebody, they can make him rich, famous, and influential. These people all feed each other and scratch each other’s backs.

Harari apparently came from a perfectly average middle-class Israeli family, but I would think that he’s got to be worth at least $50 million, just based upon sales of 30 million copies of his books. He appears to be an ideal court intellectual, living quietly with his husband in a modest suburb of Tel Aviv, promoting the party line.

International Man: Harari has made several disturbing statements, including:

“Covid is critical because this is what convinces people to accept, to legitimize, total biometric surveillance.

We want to stop this pandemic. We need not just to monitor people, we need to monitor what is happening under their skin.

Governments want to know not just where we go or who we meet. Above all, they want to know what is happening under our skin.”

What do you think about this?

Doug Casey: Well, he really wants to transform the world, and it’s kind of clever the way he proposes to do it.

His book Sapiens, which I read about 10 years ago, is a competent enough summation of how humans evolved over the course of the Pleistocene during the last 2.5 million years. It doesn’t make any cosmic breakthroughs but tells a basically correct story. He explains how technology started to take on a life of its own and how we changed the world. And how technology’s now changing us at the rate of Moore’s Law. Fair enough.

The problem lies in his projections of how and where humans will evolve over the years to come. In particular, who will guide that evolution. And if things continue advancing at the rate that they are, it’s likely that machines will integrate with humans.

I see no problem with that. If you voluntarily want to replace body parts with mechanical parts—a new knee, a new heart, be a $6 Million Man—that’s wonderful. Taking it one step further, if you can put a chip in your brain and instantly access all the knowledge on the Internet without going through a computer, that could be even more wonderful, except for the fact the Social Credit System and hackers will have access to your chip.

The problem is that the WEF people think that they know what’s best for the rest of humanity. And they feel it’s for the good of all that they be closely monitored, controlled, and guided. They’ve made statements to the effect that most people are “useless eaters,” which is probably true at this point. Or it will be once everybody gets a Guaranteed Annual Income—enough to keep them sated with avocado toast and vanilla lattes while they watch cat videos at the local Starbucks. They’d really like to do without superfluous humans and just have the elite calling the shots. Humans that remain would amount to serfs. The WEF have said, “You’ll own nothing and be happy.” They’re very bold.

It’s very disturbing how they talk about guiding the advance to the next stage of human evolution. As pessimistic as I am about the current state of the world and where it’s going, I still believe in The Ascent of Man— but I believe it can only happen if individual liberty is maximized. From the point of view of personal freedom, Harari is actually talking about regressing to feudal times. Albeit a kinder and gentler version, where wise solons like Klaus and Yuval are in charge.

As far as I can tell, his values are antithetical to those of Western Civilization. But he’s an effective mouthpiece to convince the hoi polloi that their leaders have their best interests at heart. And I suppose they do. At least the way a farmer has the best interests of his dairy—or beef—cattle at heart.

International Man: Harari has often described a high-tech totalitarian future where a small elite with access to the latest technology evolves into different beings. At the same time, drugs and video games pacify the masses until their eventual extinction.

What are your thoughts about this dystopian future? Is it inevitable?

Doug Casey: Harari projects a certain inevitability to the evolution of technology, and he may actually be right.

I don’t mind change. Rapid technological progress has been accelerating for the last 10,000 years and, with a little luck, will go hyperbolic with the evolution of nanotechnology, computers, biotech, space exploration, robotics, and artificial intelligence. These are all good things.

The question is whether these things will be imposed upon humanity or will they be something that individuals can adopt or not as they choose? To me, this is the essential ethical and moral question.

Harari, and for that matter, the rest of these WEF people, never examine any ethical or moral issues.

For instance, Harari is very big on transgenderism, which he seems to want to make into a political hobby horse—where it’s not just accepted as a psychological aberration, but is almost imposed on society, whether you like it or not.

He’s a vegan. I have no problem with being a vegan. It’s just that he wants to impose his views of the correct way to deal with animals (absolutely including humans) on everybody else. He’s certain that he knows what’s best for everybody else.

I’ve long believed in the arrival of the Singularity, which Ray Kurzweil has discussed in detail. I think it’s a good thing. Technological progress has always been a good thing—whether we’re talking about the invention of gunpowder that allowed the average man to overthrow his medieval rulers, or the printing press, that allowed peasants to access the knowledge of the ruling classes.

But the problem is that the bad guys usually get control of technology first. The powers-that-be use tech to impose their will upon the little people until the cat gets out of the bag.

I’m all for the rapid evolution of technology, even though it’s very dangerous because the power-mongers, the bad guys, and the minions of the State usually get it first.

On the bright side, I suspect that under the influence of Schwab and his muchacho de mantequilla Harari, the WEF will collapse. The snakes in the snake pit will eventually turn on each other. Optimism is warranted because stupid ideas have always come and gone throughout history. Evil is usually vanquished over the long run.

The WEF is promoting destructive ideas in a dangerous time. If you value free thought, free minds, and free markets, recognize the WEF as an enemy.

*  *  *

Sociopaths are drawn to the government and international organizations like the World Economic Forum. They seek power and control over others through coercion, taxation and more. Unfortunately, there’s little any individual can practically do to change the course of these trends in motion. The best you can and should do is to stay informed so that you can protect yourself in the best way possible, and even profit from the situation. New York Times best-selling author Doug Casey and his team just released a guide that will show you exactly how. Click here to download the PDF now.

A Pennsylvania state representative who died in October was reelected during yesterday’s midterm elections, according to the Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus.

Anthony “Tony” DeLuca, 85, died Oct. 9 “after a brief battle with lymphoma, a disease he twice previously beat,” the Caucus said in a statement.

“While we’re incredibly saddened by the loss of Representative Tony DeLuca, we are proud to see the voters continue to show their confidence in him and his commitment to Democratic values by re-electing him posthumously. A special election will follow soon,” said PA House Democrats in a tweet, Fox News reports.

Some folks commenting that the voters here were oblivious. Some certainly were. But for others, they likely preferred the idea of a special election over electing the third-party candidate on the ballot

— Charlie Wolfson (@chwolfson) November 9, 2022

Challenger Queonia “Zarah” Livingston, who is living, ran a far-left campaign, with her top three priorities listed on her website as; environmental justice, ending the war on drugs and reducing gun violence.

DeLuca was a resident of Penn Hills for over 60 years. He got his start in politics serving on the Penn Hills Government Study Commission, then five years as a Penn Hills Councilman, followed by two years as Penn Hills Deputy Mayor before running for his legislative seat and defeating the Republican incumbent. -Fox News

DeLuca had four children, nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Authored by Mary Hong via The Epoch Times,

In a press conference on Friday, the Chinese Health Commission insisted the country’s zero-COVID policy is an effective and economic measure for pandemic containment.

The officials also blamed local governments such as Zhengzhou for unscientific measures that hurt the economy and frustrated the public.

On Nov. 5, the Health Commission emphasized sticking with the policy to prevent imported cases and recurrence of the domestic cases, and claimed the policy is the “accurate” way to deal with the pandemic.

Blaming Local Governments

In answering press questions on complaints posed by the populace during the implementation of the zero-COVID policy, the officials named Zhengzhou, in central China Henan Province, as the city that received the most criticism for its arbitrary travel restrictions and lockdowns.

Consequently, Zhengzhou officials held a press conference on Nov. 6, apologizing to the public and promising to rectify its measures in containing the virus.

The manufacturing sector in China has seen the disastrous impact of the arbitrary lockdown imposed by the authorities.

A resident undergoes a nucleic acid test for COVID-19 in Anyang in central China’s Henan Province on Jan. 26, 2022. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

On Nov. 2, Zhengzhou imposed a seven-day lockdown for the industrial park where the manufacturer Foxconn is housed.

Since September, Zhengzhou has been one of the epicenters of viral infection. Positive cases were also reported in the Foxconn factory starting in October.

Recently, a large number of Foxconn employees fled the factory for fear of infection and a shortage of food and medicine on the factory premises due to the lockdown.

The Zhengzhou Foxconn location is Apple’s largest iPhone assembly factory in the world.

According to the 2020 China Top 500 Foreign Trade Research Report by the Statistical Society for Foreign Economic Relations & Trade of China, Zhengzhou Foxconn contributed to 82 percent of Zhengzhou’s total export value in 2019; Zhengzhou Foxconn’s total export volume reached $31.6 billion, the largest contributor to Chinese foreign trade export in 2019; and the import and export volume was second only to two state-owned enterprises, China Petrochemical Corporation and China National Petroleum Corporation.

On Nov. 6, Apple released a statement saying that the primary iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max assembly facility located in Zhengzhou is currently “operating at significantly reduced capacity.”

After months of speculation over a potentially very awkward showdown with Western leaders and media at the Bali G20 meeting, on Wednesday it’s being widely reported that President Vladimir Putin will skip the Group of 20 summit next week.

Bloomberg is citing “people familiar with the planning” who described that the Kremlin is seeking “to protect the president from potential high-level tensions over his invasion of Ukraine.” Essentially this will preempt the possibility of embarrassing “cold shoulder” moments and the photo ops that could arise.

As Bloomberg also emphasizes, “The Kremlin also risked Putin being shunned by European leaders at the Nov. 15-16 summit on the Indonesian island of Bali.”

There remains the question of whether Putin will give a virtual address to world leaders gathered in Indonesia, which will include President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping. But according to the latest reports, there will be no virtual address either. Instead, Russian Minister Sergei Lavrov will attend in Putin’s place. 

Even a virtual address runs the risk of Putin likely subjecting himself to a spectacle wherein some among the other heads of state gathered the G20 stage a “walk-out” – as has been done in the recent past whenever Russian officials address large international forums. 

The last example of someone being given pariah status at a G20 was Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2018 in Buenos Aires. He had been sidelined and publicly shunned during the official “family photo” of world leaders – seen standing on the far edge and largely ignored. 

That had been soon after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October of that year. MbS’ presence at the G20 at that time made for deeply awkward moments which were filmed and photographed. 

Likely, the Kremlin has calculated that it’s just not worth the potential for Putin to receive the same or worse treatment on such a visible international stage at this time, particularly when things aren’t going fully as planned in Ukraine either. 

On Tuesday, Indonesian president and summit host Joko Widodo told the Financial Times that he has a “strong impression” Putin will be skipping the event, which now is confirmed. Ukraine and its backers will greet this as a symbolic albeit small “victory” on the world stage.

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

But in the meantime, enjoy the political theatrics down on the sand-strewn floor of the Coliseum.

While the much-touted differences between America’s political parties get obsessive, hysterical attention, the sameness of Imperial corruption, waste and squalor regardless of who’s in power gets little notice. 

Scrape away the differences–mostly in domestic issues–and we see the dead hand of Imperial Corruption is on the tiller.

The core of Imperial Corruption is the disconnect between the nation’s ideals of representational democracy and open markets and the sordid reality: elites serve their interests by corrupting both democracy and open markets.

Unfettered democracy and markets cannot be controlled by a tiny, self-serving elite.

 Stripped of corruption, democracy and markets are free-for-alls that are constantly evolving, as highly adaptive islands of coherence coalesce that influence the quasi-chaos, competing with other islands of coherence but never gaining dominance due to the open-ended dynamism of collaboration-competition that is the beating heart of both democracy and open markets.

The only way to control democracy and markets to serve the interests of the few at the expense of the many is to corrupt them completely by destroying the dynamism of collaboration-competition. 

Democracy is replaced by an auction of political power to the highest bidder that rewards cronies and devotes all its resources not to solving the nation’s problems but to whipping up conflagrations of divisiveness and partisan hysteria that wash away the middle ground where problems can actually be addressed.

This crippling of the nation’s ability to actually solve difficult problems serves the interests of self-serving elites whose sole interest is accumulating personal wealth and power. Their proclaimed interest in solving the nations’ real-world problems are fraudulent tissues designed to hide the putrid reality that all their so-called “solutions” distill down to sluicing huge sums of state money to cronies and campaign contributors under the guise of “solving problems.”

The only “problem” America’s elites know how to solve is the “problem” of how to get personally richer while tightening their control of the nation-state’s vast flood of (taxed / borrowed) money. 

Cronies and contributors get tax breaks hidden in 1,000-page legislation and overflowing rivers of money (here’s looking at you, Big Pharma, Big Defense, Higher Education, Sickcare, et al.).

America’s elites are masters at misdirection and distraction: it’s always the other side’s fault that the nation is sliding down the wrong side of the S-Curve. 

The elites don’t really care which side is in power, as they control them both to serve their own interests.

But something funny happens on the way to gaining control of complex emerging systems: that control destroys the system’s self-correcting mechanisms and adaptability. 

Rigging the system to serve one’s own interests destroys the system’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances and selective pressures.

Once a system has been crippled to serve the interest of an elite, when forced to adapt or die, it can only die as its mechanisms of adaptation were destroyed by the power-grab of elites. 

An economy dominated by a handful of cartels and quasi-monopolies is an economy that is doomed to slide into the dustbin of history, as cartels and monopolies “win” by crushing competition and competing islands of coherence, as competition threatens their profits and control of markets and governance, a.k.a. “democracy.”

Any system that serves the interests of the few by choking off adaptability and the dynamisms of a free-for-all churn lacks the tools needed to avoid systemic collapse. 

By enabling elites to organize the nation to serve their personal interests, America has been stripped of the dynamics needed to adapt. Without these dynamics, collapse is the only possible outcome.

But in the meantime, enjoy the political theatrics down on the sand-strewn floor of the Coliseum. While Imperial Corruption undermines what’s left of the nation’s ability to adapt fast enough and successfully enough to survive what lies ahead, we can cheer the “winners” of the bloodsport and ignore the winds of disorder sweeping the land.

*  *  *

My new book is now available at a 10% discount ($8.95 ebook, $18 print): Self-Reliance in the 21st Century. Read the first chapter for free (PDF)

Become a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com.

Palm Beach County is under evacuation orders ahead of Tropical Storm Nicole, expected to strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane Wednesday with landfall between Boca Raton and Sebastian late Wednesday night or early Thursday. 

Nicole is about 240 miles east of West Palm Beach, Florida, with sustained 70-mph winds just four mph shy of hurricane status.

Palm Beach County officials announced Mandatory Evacuations for Zones A and B. This includes mobile homes, barrier islands, and low-lying areas. 

“Nicole would be the first hurricane to make landfall in the United States in November in nearly 40 years,” a CNN meteorologist said. 

Hurricane warnings are posted from Boca Raton to Daytona Beach, including Palm Beach, Port St. Lucie, and the Space Coast. Tropical storm warnings span up to Charleston, South Carolina, and include much of Florida’s East Coast. 

Storm surge warnings for Palm Beach are also in effect. 

Florida’s east coast could experience a peak surge of up to 5 feet of water. 

The National Weather Service wrote as “Nicole moves inland across the Florida peninsula,” there could be “significant impacts” to building structures, marinas, docks, and piers, as well as roadways and bridges. 

Ahead of the storm’s landfall, Palm Beach International Airport closed Wednesday morning. Orlando International Airport will cease operations at 1600 ET.

The ominous forecast could be very problematic for NASA. The space agency’s $4 billion Space Launch System rocket sits on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center, where it’s expected to ride out the storm. 

Launch Update: @NASA is continuing to monitor Tropical Storm Nicole and is re-targeting a launch for the #Artemis I mission for Wednesday, Nov. 16, pending safe conditions for Kennedy workforce to return, as well as inspections after the storm has passed.https://t.co/JgGAAs9RfJ pic.twitter.com/RGNw6Bk55z

— NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (@NASAKennedy) November 8, 2022

After hitting Florida’s east coast, Nicole will traverse central and northern Florida into southern Georgia Thursday. Then into the Carolinas by Friday. 

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

Have you noticed it too?  There has been a dramatic shift in the economy in recent days.  It has been sudden and it has been severe.  All over the country, sales are falling like a rock, inventories are piling up to alarming levels, and large companies are beginning to conduct mass layoffs.  Perhaps it was inevitable that such a downturn would arrive, but the Federal Reserve has made things far worse by rapidly hiking interest rates.  Every other time the Fed has engaged in such a rate hiking binge it has resulted in a recession, and there is no way that we are going to escape unscathed this time around. 

The following are 11 signs that economic activity is plunging off a cliff…

#1 This year, only 74 percent of Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving because so many people are skipping the holiday in order to save money…

In 2021, researchers note that an IPSOS survey found that nine in 10 Americans planned to celebrate Thanksgiving. This year, the new poll of 1,000 people found that number has fallen to just 74 percent. In fact, 47 percent say they’re celebrating “Friendsgiving” because of its more budget-friendly menu. Specifically, just 24 percent of Friendsgiving celebrations will even have a turkey on the table, with 33 percent opting for a pizza instead!

#2 Used vehicle prices have just plunged at the fastest pace that we have seen since 2008.

#3 A Dollar General assistant manager named Travis Bennett recently posted a video on TikTok that showed unsold inventory at his store literally piling up to the roof…

In a video with over 380,000 views addressed to “anyone inside this company that actually cares,” TikTok user Travis Bennett shows the conditions of his Dollar General. This includes boxes filling the aisles and numerous crates that have not been unpacked. Bennett says this is typical for “most Dollar General stores across the country.”

#4 Consumer confidence in the housing market just hit an all-time record low.

#5 All over America, companies are seeing depressingly low sales numbers.  In fact, it is being reported that the Net Rising Index “is getting close to a level which corresponds to several past recessions”…

A closely watched survey from the National Association for Business Economics has shown a decline in sales for companies that hasn’t been this sharp since the mid-2020 Covid crash and is getting close to a level which corresponds to several past recessions. The Net Rising Index (NRI) for sales — the percentage of survey respondents reporting rising sales minus the percentage reporting falling sales — peaked at 74% of firms in April 2021. As of October, it’s down to 36%.

#6 CNN is reporting that Facebook could start laying off thousands of workers “as early as this week”.

#7 Other large tech companies are also conducting mass layoffs, and many believe that what we have experienced so far is just the tip of the iceberg.

#8 Credit card debt growth has fallen to the lowest level in 4 months.

#9 20 million U.S. households are behind on paying their power bills.

#10 37 percent of all small business owners were not able to pay their rent on time during the month of October.

#11 A poll that was just released found that a whopping 73 percent of Americans will be “thinking a lot about the economy” when they vote.

The fact that voters are so focused on the economy right now appears to be really bad news for Democrats.

The guy in the White House always gets most of the credit or most of the blame for how the economy is performing, and right now Joe Biden’s approval rating is downright dismal…

Voters’ approval of President Joe Biden remains deep in negative territory and 70 percent of voters say the country is on the wrong track — both results that bode ill for Democrats as Election Day approaches.

Fifty-five percent of registered voters said they disapprove of the job Biden is doing as president, and just 42 percent said they approve in the last POLITICO-Morning Consult poll conducted in advance of Tuesday’s election.

Of course Joe Biden is still going to be in the White House no matter what happens during the midterm elections.

In fact, either he or Kamala Harris will be residing there until at least January 2025.

So there won’t be any major policy changes for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, economic conditions are just going to continue to deteriorate.

As this new downturn accelerates, a lot of Americans are going to lose their jobs.

In fact, Bank of America is projecting that job losses in this country will soon hit 175,000 a month…

As pressure from the Fed’s war on inflation builds, nonfarm payrolls will begin shrinking early next year, translating to a loss of about 175,000 jobs a month during the first quarter, the bank said. Charts published by Bank of America suggest job losses will continue through much of 2023.

“The premise is a harder landing rather than a softer one,” Michael Gapen, head of US economics at Bank of America, told CNN in a phone interview Monday.

Sadly, that is a wildly optimistic projection.

During times like these, you will want to be carrying as little debt as possible, and you will want to have a sizable emergency fund so that you can continue paying the bills if something happens.

In 2008 and 2009, millions of Americans ended up losing their homes because they couldn’t continue paying the bills once they lost their jobs.

Don’t let that happen to you.

The times that we are moving into won’t be pleasant.  Eventually, they will be far worse than anything that we experienced in 2008 and 2009.

But that doesn’t mean that we have to be depressed about what is coming.

When I was growing up, I was often told that “when times get tough, the tough get going”.

Those that choose to be bold and tough are going to have a much better chance of making it through what is ahead.

Unfortunately, boldness and toughness are in short supply in our society today, and the coming economic slowdown is likely to cause a massive national emotional breakdown.

*  *  *

It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Below is my column in the New York Post on what a flipping of either (or both) houses might bring for President Joe Biden.

While the President has cited his own impeachment as the danger of such a change, it may be the least of his worries. As we wait for the final tally on seats in both houses, here are three areas that represent a more serious threat to the President than removal from office.

Here is the column:

In the movie “The Longest Day,” Maj. Werner Pluskat tried to warn his superior about the approaching armada that he was seeing on the horizon. His superior asks where they are heading, and Pluskat responds, “Straight for me!”

In the days before the midterm “D-Day,” President Joe Biden increasingly sounded like Pluskat.

Last Thursday, Biden warned supporters that the Republicans have made clear “they’re gonna impeach me.” When Biden warned that he might be impeached if voters do not stop a Republican wave, there was an audible laugh which prompted the President to added “No, I’m not joking.”

While Biden may or may not be the subject of an impeachment, a Republican-controlled House has plenty to investigate, and impeachment is unlikely his greatest fear.

Here are the top three concerns, and there is every indication that Biden is wise to be worried.

Hunter Biden and Influence Peddling

House Democrats repeatedly moved to block investigations into the alleged multimillion-dollar influence-peddling operations by the Biden family. For his part, Attorney General Merrick Garland steadfastly refused to appoint a special counsel despite an overwhelming basis for such an appointment.

Biden has repeatedly denied knowledge of Hunter Biden’s business entanglements despite numerous emails and pictures showing him meeting with Hunter associates. Hunter’s partner, Eric Schwerin, alone made at least 19 visits to the White House and other official locations between 2009 and 2015.

There are emails of Chinese, Ukrainian and other foreign clients including some thanking Hunter Biden for arranging meetings with his father. People apparently were told to avoid directly referring to Joe Biden. In one email, Tony Bobulinski, then a business partner of Hunter, was instructed by Biden associate James Gilliar that the Bidens wanted to avoid such references: “Don’t mention Joe being involved, it’s only when u [sic] are face to face, I know u [sic] know that but they are paranoid.”

Instead, the emails refer to Joe Biden with code names such as “Celtic” or “the big guy.” In one, “the big guy” is discussed as possibly receiving a 10% cut on a deal with a Chinese energy firm; other emails reportedly refer to Hunter Biden paying portions of his father’s expenses and taxes.

An investigation into the alleged influence peddling by Hunter, his uncle James and his father could reveal additional information of how foreign interests pumped millions into the Biden family. As we learn more of this influence-peddling operation, the FBI may face increased questions over its response to the allegations as well as many in the media, who were actively involved in burying the story before and after the election.

Social Media and Censorship-by-Surrogate

The president has at times acted as a virtual censor-in-chief, denouncing social-media companies for “killing people” by not censoring enough. Recently, he expressed doubt that the public can “know the truth” without such censorship by “editors” in Big Tech. There is growing evidence of long-suspected back channels between government and Democratic political figures and Big Tech. Some of those contacts were recently confirmed but Congress again refused to investigate.

If officials coordinated the censorship of citizens, it could lead to lawsuits (in addition to already pending actions) and embarrassing disclosures. The government cannot do indirectly what it is barred from doing directly. The investigation could produce considerable collateral damage for political and media figures alike.

Pandemic politics and policies

Republicans have pledged to open a full investigation into what officials knew about the origins and risks of COVID-19. Specifically, members like Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have pledged to uncover material showing what officials like Dr. Anthony Fauci knew about the lack of efficacy of masks as well as guidelines on limiting groups or the closure of businesses and schools. These investigations might also reveal the coordination of health-care guidelines with teacher unions and political allies.

These investigations could eventually be linked in critical ways. For example, many of those who questioned the efficacy and cost of the massive lockdown were barred on social media (and attacked in the mainstream media). Fauci is accused of quickly scuttling such discussion, and critics point to his own alleged approval of gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab.

These investigations could also present a serious challenge to Attorney General Garland. Not only will the Hunter Biden investigation shed light on his inexplicable opposition to a special counsel, but Garland has been very aggressive in prosecuting contempt of Congress against Trump officials. He may now face contempt referrals from a new Republican-controlled House and will be asked to show the same aggression against Biden officials or associates.

It is not clear whether Biden’s more personal existential plea moved the needle for voters, but it was arguably his most honest pitch as he contemplated the perilous future if either house flipped to the GOP.

Authored by Ron Paul via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity,

Politicians and the media always say that this is the most important election ever, but all too often once the voting is over and the smoke has cleared, not much changes. The Washington uni-party takes over and makes sure the status quo is maintained.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

An incoming Republican House and/or Senate, for example, could take early steps to reassure their supporters that their votes weren’t wasted on Tweedledee vs. Tweedledum in Washington. Here are three suggestions to get things off to a good start.

First, Republican Party Leadership must vow to end the massive money spigot opened by the last Congress for Ukraine. By some estimates some $60 billion dollars have been authorized for Ukraine to fight a proxy war between the US/NATO and Russia.

This would be a move strongly supported by the Republican base. A recent Wall Street Journal poll showed that only 37 percent of Republicans support sending more US aid to Ukraine. Republican firebrand Representative Marjorie Taylor-Greene said recently that under Republicans, not another penny will go to Ukraine. While I am skeptical that her party leadership would support such a move, it’s clear Republican voters would.

Plus, ending this proxy war would carry with it the benefit of reducing the dangerously high possibility of global nuclear war. That’s not a bad trade-off.

Second, Republicans can signal that they will de-fund the Department of Homeland Security. At the time this monstrosity was created, I said this on the House Floor:

“The list of dangerous and unconstitutional powers granted to the new Homeland Security department is lengthy. Warrantless searches, forced vaccinations of whole communities, federal neighborhood snitch programs, federal information databases, and a sinister new ‘Information Awareness Office’ at the Pentagon that uses military intelligence to spy on domestic citizens are just a few of the troubling aspects of the new legislation.”

Unfortunately all of these things came to pass…and more. As we recently learned, the DHS has been colluding with social media companies to try and prevent Americans from being able to say or post opinions the government doesn’t want others to hear.

They promised that a Department of Homeland Security would keep us safer, but there is nothing that makes us less safe than the destruction of our Constitution.

Finally, the third task an incoming Republican House and Senate can take is maybe the easiest one: pass the Audit the Fed bill. Ten years ago the US House voted in a bipartisan manner to pass my Audit the Fed legislation only to see it stall in the Senate. With Republican control of both houses of Congress there is no reason a broadly-supported bill to open the books at the Federal Reserve cannot find its way to President Biden’s desk. We all support transparency, right?

Inflation is out of control and causing real harm to the American middle class. The Biden Administration seems determined to lead us to a potentially life-ending war with Russia. The Department of Homeland Security has turned into a weapon mobilized against the American people and our Constitution.

A Republican-controlled House and Senate can actually do something to fix these problems and thus make us more safe and more free. Will they?

House prices are sliding, and sales are plunging as the Federal Reserve hits the pause button on quantitative easing this year with the most aggressive interest rate hikes in four decades to cool the red-hot housing market spurred by low interest rates and tight inventories during the pandemic.

A rising rate environment has sent the average thirty-year fixed mortgage rate to highs not seen since the Dot Com collapse era over two decades ago. This abrupt surge in rates caused an affordability crisis in housing as prices remained at lofty levels this year, forcing real-estate brokerage Redfin Corp. to slash workers in June. 

Now the online real-estate brokerage has announced the second round of layoffs, as well as an exit from its home-flipping business called “iBuying.” 

Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman sent a letter to employees, also published on the company’s website, about the layoffs. He indicated 13% of staff, or about 862 people, will be fired. 

We’re laying off 862 brilliant, loyal people and also closing RedfinNow.

We’ll still need home-services employees for our concierge service to fix up brokerage customers’ listings, but since that group spent most of its time renovating RedfinNow homes, it will get much smaller.

Kelman explained the layoffs are equivalent to about 13% of the workforce. Since April 27, about 27% of the total workforce has been reduced — this coincides with a rising interest rate environment and souring macroeconomic backdrop for the economy forced on by the Fed’s monetary tightening.

The top-level executive made a bold prediction about the 2023 housing market: 

A layoff is awful but we can’t avoid it. We plan to keep increasing our share of the market, but that market in 2023 is likely to be 30% smaller than it was in 2021. The June layoff was a response to our expectation that we’d sell fewer houses in 2022; this layoff assumes the downturn will last at least through 2023. 

Besides reducing headcount, Redfin is also exiting iBuying, a large-scale home-flipping operation, because it’s been a massive money pit for the company. Kelman said:

RedfinNow Is Too Much Money and Risk: And the second problem is that iBuying is a staggering amount of money and risk for a now-uncertain benefit. We’ve tied up hundreds of millions of dollars in houses that you yourself wouldn’t want to own right now. Even before its overhead expenses, the RedfinNow properties segment will likely lose $22 – $26 million dollars in 2022. However small our iBuying loss may be compared to others, that loss is still larger than we could afford to bear again.

Redfin’s troubles also come as the lagged Case-Shiller Index showed US housing prices dropped 1.3% from their June 2022 peak in August. This is the biggest monthly decline since the Lehman collapse.  

The national home price index growth has slowed for five straight months (below 13% YoY for the first time since Feb 2021). The absolute drop in the growth rate of 2.62 percentage points is the largest ever…

Researchers at Goldman Sachs forecast home prices could slide 5-10% from peak to trough — with their official forecast model predicting a 7.6% decline. 

Given the unprecedented explosion in mortgage rates and near-record-high prices, contributing to the worst affordability crisis ever for future homeowners, Redfin’s decision to substantially reduce headcount this year and exit the home flipping industry comes as 2023 could be a year of turmoil for the housing market. 

Add Redfin to the list of mounting layoffs across tech. 

Layoffs This Month (% of Workers):

1. Twitter: 50%

2. Cameo: 25%

3. Robinhood: 23%

4. Intel: 20%

5. Snapchat: 20%

6. Coinbase: 18%

7. Opendoor: 18%

8. Stripe: 14%

9. Lyft: 13%

10. Shopify: 10%

11. Meta: “Thousands”

12. Apple: Hiring Freeze

13. Amazon: Hiring Freeze

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) November 8, 2022