In a major speech on Nov. 29 about the rise in anti-Semitism, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) criticized the left side of the ideological spectrum for not reciprocating in solidarity with the Jewish people.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Mr. Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in U.S. history, noted that the Jewish people have been allies when it comes to certain causes surrounding minorities.
“Not long ago, many of us marched together for black and brown lives. We stood against anti-Asian hatred. We protested bigotry against the LGBTQ community. We fought for reproductive justice, out of the recognition that injustice against one oppressed group is injustice against all,” he said.
“But apparently, Mr. President, in the eyes of some this principle does not extend to the Jewish people,” he continued.
Mr. Schumer warned that the rise in anti-Semitism is “a five-alarm fire that must be extinguished.”
This comes amid the latest conflict between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas that started on Oct. 7, resulting in the largest single-day massacre of the Jews since the Holocaust, when 6 million Jews were exterminated.
He lamented anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment in the United States ranging from college campuses to the media to Jewish businesses boycotted and vandalized.
He also cited examples of Jews being persecuted throughout history, from the Crusades to pogroms to the expulsions from countries including England and Spain.
In the United States, there was a 388 percent increase in anti-Semitic incidents between Oct. 7 and Oct. 23, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Additionally, Jews are the leading target for religious-related hate crimes in the United States, according to the FBI.
Mr. Schumer emphasized there is a difference between criticizing Israeli government policies and demonizing Israel.
“This speech is not an attempt to label most criticism of Israel and the Israeli government, generally, as anti-Semitic,” he said.
“I don’t believe that criticism is.”
Double Standard Applied to Jews
He also criticized the double standards when it comes to Israel versus other countries, such as people celebrating when a new country is founded but being against the formation of the Jewish state, which occurred in 1948. He even referenced the 1947 United Nations partition plan that would have created a Jewish state and an Arab state in what was the British mandate of Palestine—which the Jews accepted and the Arabs rejected.
“The double standard has been ever present and is at the root of anti-Semitism,” said Mr. Schumer.
“The double standard is very simple. What is good for everybody is never good for the Jew and when it comes time to assign blame for some problem, the Jew is always the first target,” he continued.
“And in recent decades, this double standard has manifested itself in the way much of the world treats Israel differently than anybody else.”
Mr. Schumer then paraphrased former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Abba Eban, who gave a guest lecture at Harvard University when Mr. Schumer was a student there. Mr. Schumer said he never forgot a particular moment from the ambassador’s speech, when he directly addressed a group of students who were protesting against the existence of Israel.
“Every time a people gets their statehood, you applaud it. The Nigerians, the Pakistanis, the Zambians, you applaud their getting statehood,” Mr. Schumer recalled the ambassador saying.
“There is only one people, when they gain statehood, you don’t applaud, you condemn it. And that is the Jewish people.”
Another example Mr. Schumer lamented was the blame people put on Israel when it comes to civilian deaths, but not Hamas. Mr. Schumer expressed his sympathy for the Palestinian lives lost in the conflict, though he acknowledged that Israel does have a responsibility to avoid collateral damage.
Notably, in his speech, Mr. Schumer made no mention of Iran, which backs Hamas and is the world’s leading state sponsor of anti-Semitism.
Yesterday we noted that Deutsche Bank executive David Williams may have nuked New York’s case against former President Donald Trump – testifying on Tuesday that the bank has no problem with clients overstating their net worth, and that it’s “atypical, but not entirely unusual” for a bank to internally slash a client’s stated asset values by 50% and approve a loan anyway, as they did with Trump.
It gets even better…
Not only did that completely dismantle the prosecution’s core argument that the bank was harmed by Trump inflating his assets, Trump’s former private banker, Rosemary Vrablic, testified on Wednesday that the bank had aggressively pursued the real estate mogulas a ‘whale’ client.
“We are whale hunting … haven’t seen him yet,” she told bankers in a Nov. 29, 2011 email entered into evidence by Trump’s defense team and displayed on screens during the trial. “Also maybe Dad will convert like Ivanka did,” she added.
Vrablic is one of four current and former employees called to testify this week as part of Trump’s defense against claims brought last year by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The state alleges Trump inflated his net worth by as much as $3.6 billion a year to get better terms from banks and insurers, reaping $250 million in “illegal profit” over more than a decade.
While James has portrayed Deutsche Bank as a victim of Trump’s lies, the former president is seeking testimony supporting his argument that lenders were eager to do business with him and weren’t bothered by discrepancies in the value of his assets. -Bloomberg
What’s more, Trump attorney Jesus Suarez on Wednesday asked Vrablic to comment on internal documents from 2014 which described plans to build “lasting, broad private banking relationships” with a list of US clients.
Vrablic, who brokered a loan for Trump’s Doral golf course in Florida as well as properties in Chicago and Washington, testified that Trump fit the bill because “he was in the US commercial real estate market and had a successful track record.”
Internal documents further showed that the bank made $6 million from Trump loans in 2013 alone.
Again…
Cleanup, aisle 3!
In response to yesterday’s bombshell testimony, Kevin Wallace, an attorney with NY AG Letitia James’ office, told judge Arthur Engoron that it’s irrelevant whether Deutsche Bank was happy with Trump, what matters is that he lied!
“The idea that you can’t lie to a bank is pretty well established,” argued Wallace.
Engoron, unsurprisingly, suggested on Tuesday that he agrees with the state’s view on Trump.
“The mere fact that lenders were happy doesn’t mean the statute wasn’t violated,” he said, after previously holding Trump liable for fraud on the eve of the trial.
Now do election fraud, given that the vast majority of 2020 election fraud cases were dismissed by spineless judges across the country for ‘lack of standing,’ since the plaintiffs couldn’t show they were directly harmed – despite evidence that ‘statutes were violated.’
Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle A. Henry has issued a consumer advisory warning “pregnant people” seeking an abortion to be sure they do not look for medical services at pregnancy resource centers that do not provide abortions.
While many facilities in Pennsylvania offer various forms of assistance, education, and support to pregnant women, not all of them provide “medical care,” the attorney general’s office notes.
“Many facilities known as crisis pregnancy centers, or pregnancy resource centers, are not staffed by licensed medical professionals and therefore cannot provide medical care,” the Nov. 24 advisory says. “In Pennsylvania, only licensed medical professionals can provide medical care such as diagnostic ultrasounds, pre-natal screening tests, or abortion services.”
The notice advises, “Pregnant people and other consumers” searching for “reproductive health care” to be prepared to ask if the services they seek are provided at the clinic they have contacted.
Pregnancy resource centers provide emotional support, non-medical ultrasound, parenting classes for single mothers and couples, adoption resources, baby clothing, diapers and supplies, guidance for a year or two after the birth of the baby, and post-abortion counseling.
The Attorney General’s office has developed an online form where consumers can report what they believe to be misleading or false information about pregnancy-related resources and services provided in Pennsylvania. Complaints may be made anonymously.
The Epoch Times contacted the Attorney General’s office to ask if there was an incident that prompted the advisory.
This is not the first time Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration has targeted pregnancy resource centers.
In August, Mr. Shapiro, a Democrat, defunded the nonprofit Real Alternatives, which for almost 30 years has administered the life-affirming Pregnancy and Parenting Support Services program for the state, including funding for the state’s nonprofit pregnancy resource centers.
During budget planning, the line item normally planned for Real Alternatives “women’s service programs” was raised from $7.2 million to $9.2 million in the new budget.
Shortly after Mr. Shapiro signed the 2023–2024 budget on July 3, Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) Secretary Dr. Val Arkoosh announced the state’s contract with Real Alternatives will end by Dec. 31, ending its main funding source.
Real Alternatives refers women to 83 life-affirming pregnancy centers in Pennsylvania, including Catholic charities and social services agencies, pregnancy support centers, and maternity homes. Through these partners, it provides counseling services and pregnancy tests, helps to continue education, and provides adoption resources. It also offers a host of programs for unexpectedly pregnant women and new mothers, including parenting classes, housing resources, diapers, food, furniture, and other services. By design, it doesn’t provide medical services or point women to abortion.
Still Spending
Budgeting for pro-life activities has been a priority in Pennsylvania since the mid-1990s, when then-Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey, a pro-life Democrat, added funding to the state budget for a program providing an alternative to abortion services. Real Alternatives has held the contract for more than 27 years and in that time has served nearly 350,000 women, with 1.9 million office visits.
The newly increased budget item, $9.2 million, will still be spent on women’s service programs. The DHS has also published a request for applications (RFA) for women’s service programs.
Through the RFA, the DHS will find a provider to administer regional programs providing “a comprehensive array of essential services that cater directly to the distinctive requirements of women, pregnant women, and new mothers.”
The selected applicant must provide services and information in a manner that “is inclusive and accessible, medically accurate, comprehensive, trauma-informed, nonjudgmental, client-centered, and culturally responsible,” the RFA said. “For purposes of this RFA, comprehensive services shall exclude abortion services.”
The RFA requires applicants with experience providing services that address the unique needs of women, including pregnant and postpartum women, and women seeking testing for sexually transmitted infections.
These are some of the same services that Planned Parenthood says it offers. However, some of the parameters of the RFA are beyond what pregnancy resource centers offer. The winning applicants have not yet been announced.
Replacing State Dollars with Donations
Although the RFA excludes applicants who directly provide abortions, it does not prohibit abortion referrals.
Moreover, some of the language in the RFA—phrases such as “dismantling persistent healthcare barriers” and “broaden health care access”—is similar to that used by the abortion lobby. In one example, a recent Planned Parenthood action sheet encouraged supporters to message Mr. Shapiro urging him to “dismantle unnecessary barriers to abortion care,” to “expand access now,” and to stop funding “harmful and deceptive CPCs” (Crisis Pregnancy Centers).
“The way [the RFA] is written, it clearly allows groups that promote abortion to get funding. And there’s no alternative to abortion language,” Kevin Bagatta, Real Alternatives president and CEO, told The Epoch Times. “In our language, and in the language in the governor’s budget, as well as in the fiscal code that we have followed all these years, it says to promote childbirth rather than abortion to women with an unexpected pregnancy.”
With the contract ending Dec. 31, 2023, Real Alternatives hopes to increase donations so it won’t have to close its doors. “We need $4 million to continue the program through the fiscal year which would end June 30,” Mr. Bagatta said. “That’s a big number, but that’s 200,000 people donating $20 each to us.”
The program is not going to change, he said.
“We’re still going to lower abortion one woman at a time by providing a real alternative, which is support and love through the unexpected pregnancy, and 24 months after the birth of the baby. We’re just going to use different funds.”
The people of Pennsylvania have always supported the program, Mr. Bagatta said. “Now, we’re just going to go directly to them and ask for help.”
Critics of the move to de-emphasize pregnancy resource centers say it is a political move, not a response to a rash of bad experiences at pregnancy resource centers. Discouraging the use of pregnancy resource centers has become a tactic in the power struggle between pro-abortion and pro-lifer forces over what policies to promote to women facing unplanned pregnancies and abortion access, they say.
In August, Pennsylvania Sen. Judy Ward called the move to defund Real Alternatives “sickening” and called out Mr. Shapiro and Dr. Arkoosh for being “willing to sacrifice the needs and desires of so many women at the altar of their far-left social agenda.”
During his first week in office, Mr. Shapiro met in the governor’s office with four high-level Planned Parenthood officials, who described the meeting as working toward “improved access to care” for patients regardless of their financial situation; removing “limitations and hurdles” for providers to offer abortion; holding crisis pregnancy centers “accountable for misinformation” when they are state-funded; and waiving “onerous and unnecessary testing requirements” for clinic patients.
Planned Parenthood has been a regular campaign donor to Mr. Shapiro throughout his political career.
In January, Mr. Shapiro appointed Lindsey Mauldin as deputy chief of staff for Health and Human Services. Ms. Mauldin’s LinkedIn profile reveals almost ten years of experience working at Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin issued the following consumer alert in December 2022: “WARNING: Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) do NOT provide abortion care. CPCs are organizations that seek to prevent people from accessing comprehensive reproductive health care, including abortion care and contraception,” the New Jersey alert reads.
In 2022, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, vetoed $1.5 million that the Republican-led state legislature had allocated for pregnancy resource centers in the state budget.
U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) held a press conference in front of Lighthouse Pregnancy Resource Center in Hackensack, New Jersey, on Oct. 6 and claimed the center is “brainwashing” pregnant women because it provides options other than abortion.
“We need to do everything we can do to shut down these brainwashing, cult clinics,” he told reporters. “We need to stop the fake programming they are pushing.”
Mr. Gottheimer said it was part of his effort to promote the Stop Anti-abortion Disinformation (SAD) Act to prevent so-called deceptive advertising about what happens in pregnancy centers.
The SAD Act would direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to issue rules that prohibit “deceptive or misleading advertising” related to the provision of abortion services; provide the FTC the authority to enforce these rules and collect penalties from organizations in violation; and require a report to Congress on enforcement under the Act.
In some states, pro-lifers have sued over warnings or statutes banning “deceptive advertising” by pregnancy resource centers. In Connecticut, Alliance Defending Freedom ultimately dropped its legal challenge when Connecticut Attorney General William Tong revealed in litigation that he was unaware of any women being deceived by the centers.
In New Jersey, after a coalition of pregnancy resource centers filed a public information request for documentation supporting claims of deceptive marketing, it was told the request could not be fulfilled because no complaints against the centers existed.
Panama Forcing First Quantum To Close Mega-Copper Mine Is A “Significant Event”
Copper futures reached a ten-week high on Wednesday following the announcement by Panama’s government to shut down a controversial $10 billion copper mine owned by First Quantum Minerals Ltd. The decision came after the Supreme Court of the Central American country declared the 20-year concession given to the Canadian mining operator was unconstitutional.
“We have decided to unanimously declare unconstitutional the entire law 406 [granted mining concessions to First Quantum Minerals] of October 20, 2023,” Supreme Court President Maria Eugenia Lopez said on Tuesday.
Later that evening, President Laurentino Cortizo posted on social media platform X that the “transition process for the orderly and safe closure of the mine” had already begun. Production at Cobre mine has already been disrupted due to environmentalist protesters and labor unions.
The court’s ruling and resulting shuttering of Cobre Mine is a shock to investors and the industry as a whole. The mine produces about 1.5% of the world’s copper supply.
While many analysts on Wall Street have been forecasting a surplus of the industrial metal in 2024, the glut could be shortly wiped out if the Cobre Mine remains in limbo.
Craig Lang, principal analyst at researcher CRU Group, called the closing of Cobre Mine a “significant event, adding uncertainty to the supply outlook.”
“This is likely to place further downward pressure on copper concentrate market terms as smelters and traders look to cover Panama supply with alternative sources of material,” Lang said.
Bloomberg pointed out, “There are bigger concerns in the longer term, with a broad consensus that dozens of new copper mines are needed if the world is going to meet decarbonization goals.”
In an earlier advance, copper futures were at a ten-week high and have since traded flat late Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, the market cap of the miner has crashed 63% in about a month’s time.
The closure of the mine has severe consequences for Panama’s fiscal outlook because the government relies on it for taxes.
Ricardo Penfold, a managing director at Seaport Global, said Panama is running a fiscal deficit of “5% of GDP, and this will increase it by about 0.6%.”
This negative fiscal outlook forced Barclays to downgrade Panama’s bonds to underweight due to increasing uncertainty.
And maybe billionaire mining investor Robert Friedland’s apocalyptic warning in a Bloomberg TV interview earlier this year that “copper prices might explode ten times” could be correct if supply quickly transitions into a shortage following the closure of the Panama mine.
Precious metals expert and financial writer Bill Holter says the recent underreported announcement by the UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti in Switzerland that his bank might need a “rescue”is yet another sign on the short road to the end of the global Ponzi scheme backed by the US dollar reserve currency.
Holter points out, “You’ve got a sick bank (Credit Suisse) that is being bailed out by another bank (UBS) that may turn out to be sick…”
“My question is who is going to bail out these central banks?
You have got the Fed with a $9 trillion balance sheet. The last time, the Fed went from $900 billion to $9 trillion.
Can the Fed now go from $9 trillion to $90 trillion?
Who is going to bail out the Fed? Who is going to bail out the US Treasury?
Who is going to bail out the Bank of England, the ECB or the Bank of Japan?
These central banks have completely blown up their balance sheet and have no ability to save anything.
My question is who is going to save them?”
Can’t they cut interest rates again like they did in 2009? Holter says,
“If they cut interest rates from here, you would see the dollar absolutely crash.
The only reason the dollar has not crashed is interest rates have basically gone from 0% to 5%.
They have done that in a year and a half which is the fastest increase in interest rates in all of history.”
So, rate cuts will devalue the dollar. Can you pay trillions of dollars borrowed in Treasury Bond back in confetti dollars? Holter says, “Yes, you absolutely can pay back your debt in confetti. It’s been done many, many times before as currencies get lost.”
“The US Treasury can certainly pay back in dollars, confetti dollars that certainly will have no purchasing power.
What that does is it shuts the credit spigot off to the biggest debtor in the world.
The biggest debtor in the world is the US Treasury. They owe more than any other entity anywhere…
I have long said this is going to be a credit event… People are not going to buy Treasuries and be paid back in monkey money. The world is going to shun dollars and shun US Treasuries…
In short, confetti dollars are going to shut the credit markets down…Then, it’s game over because everything runs on credit.
The financial markets run on credit, and the real economy runs on credit. If there is no credit, nothing works.”
Holter is not surprised by the recent rise in gold.
He also says “watch silver,”
“it is being suppressed because if silver rises uncontrollably, it will be like pulling the silver pin in the gold grenade.”
There is much more in the 40-minute interview.
Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with financial writer and precious metals expert Bill Holter for 11.28.23.
US Osprey Aircraft Crashes Off Japan Coast, Killing At Least One
A US military MV-22B Osprey with six souls on board crashed into the sea in western Japan on Wednesday while on a training mission, killing at least one person, according to Reuters.
The tiltrotor aircraft that can operate as a helicopter or a turboprop aircraft crashed some 2 miles from Yakushima island. This area is part of Japan’s Kagoshima prefecture and about 650 miles southwest of Tokyo.
Local fisherman rescued three people in the surrounding waters, a representative of a regional fisheries cooperative said.
🇺🇲🇯🇵 | At least one person was killed after a US MV-22 Osprey military aircraft crashed off the coast of Japan’s Yakushima Island in southern Kagoshima prefecture on Wednesday, Japan Coast Guard spokesman said.
— Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (@Archer83Able) November 29, 2023
It was reported another Osprey landed at the island’s airport on Wednesday afternoon around the time of the crash.
Despite excellent VFR conditions (known as clear skies and light wind), witnesses told local media the troubled Osprey had an engine malfunction.
Reuters noted Japan, which also operates a fleet of Osprey aircraft, said it has no plans to ground the tiltrotor aircraft while the US military investigates the incident.
The accident-prone aircraft has been involved in five fatal crashes since 2012, killing at least 19 people.
Downbeat Beige Book Finds Economic Activity “Slowing”, Brings Fed One Step Closer To Rate Cuts
One month after the October Beige book found “little change” in the US economy even as the outlook turned decidedly gloomier, moments ago the Fed released the latest, November, Beige Book in which we find just why the outlook darkened: according to the Fed, economic activity in the US “slowed” since the previous report, with four Districts reporting modest growth, two indicating conditions were flat to slightly down, and half (or six) noting slight declines in activity. The slowdown was visible across both Fed mandates: price increases moderated across districts (though prices remained elevated) the Beige Book notes, while demand for labor continued to ease, as most Districts reported flat to modest increases in overall employment.
According to Bloomberg, “taken at face value, that’s two-thirds of districts citing conditions that are ostensibly consistent with a mild recession.” In other words, the various regional Feds confirm that the trigger for a Fed rate cut is that much closer.
Some more details, starting with overall economic activity:
Retail sales, including autos, remained mixed; sales of discretionary items and durable goods, like furniture and appliances, declined, on average, as consumers showed more price sensitivity.
Travel and tourism activity was generally healthy. Demand for transportation services was sluggish.
Manufacturing activity was mixed, and manufacturers’ outlooks weakened.
Demand for business loans decreased slightly, particularly real estate loans.
Consumer credit remained fairly healthy, but some banks noted a slight uptick in consumer delinquencies.
Agriculture conditions were steady to slightly up as farmers reported higher selling prices; yields were mixed.
Commercial real estate activity continued to slow; the office segment remained weak and multifamily activity softened.
Several Districts noted a slight decrease in residential sales and higher inventories of available homes.
Not surprisingly, the economic outlook darkened even more, with the report warning that the outlook “for the next six to twelve months diminished over the reporting period.”
Turning to labor markets, we find that demand for labor continued to ease, as most Districts reported flat to modest increases in overall employment. Which is to be expected with the US heading fast for recession. Not surprisingly, wage growth slowed further, while layoffs rose and an even higher unemployment rate next week is virtually assured. Here are some more details:
The majority of Districts reported that more applicants were available, and several noted that retention improved as well.
Reductions in headcounts through layoffs or attrition were reported, and some employers felt comfortable letting go low performers. However, several Districts continued to describe labor markets as tight with skilled workers in short supply.
Wage growth remained modest to moderate in most Districts, as many described easing in wage pressures and several reported declines in starting wages. Some wage pressures did persist, however, and there were some reports of continued difficulty attracting and retaining high performers and workers with specialized skills.
Looking at the regional anecdotes, one stood out: “a New York City-area company noted a reduction in starting salaries for recent college graduates as tech workers have become easier to find.” Translation: forget about wage growth, actual wage cuts are on deck.
Turning to prices, no surprise that here to increases “largely moderated” (even though prices remained elevated).
Freight and shipping costs decreased for many, while the cost of various food products increased.
Several noted that costs for construction inputs like steel and lumber had stabilized or even declined.
Rising utilities and insurance costs were notable across Districts.
Pricing power varied, with services providers finding it easier to pass through increases than manufacturers.
Two Districts cited increased cost of debt as an impediment to business growth. Most Districts expect moderate price increases to continue into next year.
Turning to the specific regional Feds, we found these summaries notable
Boston: Economic activity was flat or down slightly. Employment was stable but labor demand showed weakness. Results were quite mixed among manufacturers, some of whom have recently experienced an extended period of weak activity. Contacts noted an increase in loan defaults for office properties and expected further distress moving forward.
New York: Regional economic activity continued to weaken. Though still solid, labor market conditions cooled, and consumer spending slowed. Inflationary pressures were little changed after moderating in recent months. There were some signs of housing markets becoming more balanced in some parts of the District, though inventory remained exceptionally low.
Philadelphia: Business activity continued to decline slightly during the current Beige Book period. Wage and price inflation subsided significantly – but price levels remain high for many items. Consumers became yet more price sensitive, and real consumer spending declined. Employment grew modestly as labor availability improved further. Expectations for economic growth remained subdued.
Cleveland: The District’s economy contracted slightly in recent weeks after a long period of stability. Accompanying slower business activity, labor demand eased further, and employers reported returning to more normal wage increases and schedules. Input costs continued to trend down. Moreover, some firms noted that pricing power was reduced by weakening demand and competition.
Richmond: The regional economy grew slightly in recent weeks mainly due to modest increases in consumer spending. Manufacturers reported mixed activity. Underlying volumes in the transportation sector were low. Residential real estate continued to be constrained by limited inventory. Commercial real estate activity and lending demand declined. Employment increased modestly and price growth moderated slightly.
Atlanta: Economic activity grew slowly. Labor markets cooled, and wage pressures eased. Some nonlabor input costs, mostly in construction, decreased. Retail sales softened. New auto sales remained strong. Leisure and group travel were solid. Housing demand slowed. Banking conditions were stable. Transportation activity weakened. Energy demand rose. Agricultural conditions improved somewhat.
Chicago: Economic activity was up slightly. Employment increased moderately; business spending was up slightly; nonbusiness contacts saw little change in activity; consumer spending and construction and real estate activity decreased slightly; and manufacturing was down modestly. Prices and wages rose moderately, while financial conditions tightened slightly. Expectations for farm incomes in 2023 were little changed.
St. Louis: Economic activity has slowed slightly since our previous report. Retailers and freight transport contacts reported slowing consumer demand, particularly for high-end goods. Construction activity slowed, with multifamily in particular seeing projects delayed or cancelled due to higher rates.
Minneapolis: District economic activity was down slightly. Employment grew modestly but labor demand softened. Wage pressures were stable but still above average, and price pressures were modest. Consumer spending was flat as shoppers sought low-priced options, while construction and manufacturing sectors both faced challenges. Farm incomes were also lower.
Kansas City: Economic activity in the Tenth District declined slightly in recent weeks. Consumers were increasingly likely to “share a roof and share meals” to manage household budget challenges. Wage growth remained steady, but job gains were modest. Most firms reported plans to raise prices in coming months and noted heightened uncertainty about the outlook for commodity prices. Renewable energy activity continued to expand at a moderate pace.
Dallas: The Eleventh District economy expanded at a slower pace than in the previous reporting period, as growth in services stalled out, retail and home sales fell, and loan volumes declined at a faster rate. Job growth softened, and wage growth continued to normalize. Price pressures were above average in the service sector but modest in other sectors. Outlooks worsened, and uncertainty remained elevated with numerous contacts citing geopolitical instability and high interest rates as headwinds.
San Francisco: Economic activity softened slightly. Labor market tightness eased moderately. Wage and price pressures moderated. Retail sales were flat, and demand for manufactured products remained largely unchanged. Conditions in agriculture were mixed, while real estate activity softened somewhat. Financial sector conditions weakened further. Local communities faced high demand for support services.
And one particular highlight: The Kansas City Fed notes that “bankers cited higher debt service costs and declining borrower cash flow as key risks facing their CRE books, particularly for loans maturing in the near term. Rising funding costs persisted as deposit balances continued to shift to higher-yielding accounts, with contacts reporting strength in time deposit products.”
In other words, the Fed is now on notice that unless it cuts rates, a CRE accident is just waiting to happen.
Finally, taking a visual approach to the data, we find that the mentions of inflation were the fewest since Jan 2022.
Perhaps the only silver lining in today’s data is that while we would expect mentions of “slowing” to jump in keeping with the broader report theme, what actually happened was a drop decline in the use of that word to a 5 month low, suggesting that a soft landing is still possible but only if the Fed is careful and eases into it.
Cigna, Humana In Merger Talks To Create New Healthcare Powerhouse
Shares of Cigna Group and Humana Inc. moved lower in the afternoon cash session following the report from The Wall Street Journal that the two healthcare companies are engaged in merger talks.
According to people familiar with the discussions, the merger is a stock and cash deal that could be finalized by the end of the year. If talks don’t fall apart, the merger will combine Cigna’s market cap of about $80 billion and Humana’s of about $63 billion and create a new powerhouse in the health insurance industry to challenge the market dominance of UnitedHealth Group.
Merging would allow the combined entity of Cigna/Humana to compete with industry giants UnitedHealth and CVS, propelling them into the top tier of integrated healthcare firms. Last year, Cigna’s revenues were $181 billion, which could combine its large pharmacy-benefit unit, which manages drug plans, and its strength in commercial insurance with Humana’s rapidly expanding Medicare segment, something Cigna has been pursuing.
Humana, having generated around $93 billion in revenue last year, is the second-largest Medicare insurer, trailing only UnitedHealth. In contrast, Cigna’s current Medicare Advantage division is significantly smaller. Additionally, Humana’s substantial home-health business and its expanding network of primary-care clinics could greatly enhance Cigna’s Evernorth health services arm.
However, the proposed merger is expected to encounter antitrust challenges in an industry where regulators have previously blocked the last two significant mergers. This includes a proposed union between Cigna and Anthem, now known as Elevance Health Inc.
“A possible Cigna-Humana merger as reported by the Wall Street Journal would make strategic sense via cross benefits between the pharmacy-benefit manager (PBM) and the Medicare-focused insurer, but could face regulatory hurdles. Even if an agreement is reached, the odds of the deal closing are questionable given the size of the combination and increased federal scrutiny of PBMs and health insurers,” Bloomberg’s BI analyst Glen Losev wrote in a report.
Shares of Cigna are down 6.5%, while shares of Humana are down 2.7%.
A mega-deal between Cigna and Humana would be a welcoming sign for the merger and acquisition markets amid high-interest rates crushing deal flow this year. It would likely be the biggest deal of the year, exceeding Exxon Mobil’s $60 billion agreement to acquire Pioneer Natural Resources last month.
‘Brutal Psychological Games’: Hamas Is Holding An Infant & Toddler Captive, Likely Till The End
The White House has said that eight more American citizens as well as a US permanent resident are believed to still be among those captives held by Hamas.
So far, dozens of young people and children have been released along with many elderly, mostly women. Israel says that since the truce went into effect last Friday, at least nine children still remain captive in the Strip, after 31 young people have been released so far. It should be noted that Israel is classifying 18-year old hostages as among the children still held.
But currently, there are questions as to Israel’s so far failed attempts to gain the release of the youngest captives: Kfir Bibas at 10-months old, and Ariel Bibas at 4-years old. The two are brothers and were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct.7. Will Hamas release them? There are reports that the siblings have been separated from their mother Shiri Bibas – who was also kidnapped – while in captivity, and that this is intended to make it harder to release them as a family.
“Due to Kfir’s extraordinarily young age, the redheaded children have become some of the most recognizable among the hostages,” The Times of Israel noted. “The family was kidnapped by Hamas, but at some point was transferred to another Palestinian terror group in Gaza, the military said Monday.”
On Tuesday family members of the young Bibas brothers spoke to Sky News of the agonizing and gut-wrenching ordeal on waiting for information on their fate. Below is the interview segment with Shiri’s cousin Yifat:
She said: “What are these groups? We reach a dead end every time we try to figure out why Hamas is having so much trouble getting them back or whether that means if they’re alive or not.
“It’s really frustrating. It feels very far away, although it’s really close by. Hamas is ruling over the strip, and I hope that whichever group is holding them will oblige and will give them [back]. They said that they’re going to move those hostages into Hamas hands, so I hope those groups will do that as well.”
If Shiri Bibas and her children have been passed on to another group, it will explain why they haven’t been released and complications.
“I think they’re playing games with the psychological games,” said Yifat.
“It’s brutal. But what can you expect from a terror organization that did such horrendous things? It’s amazing that a baby became some sort of a card or, you know, a winning card or a trophy holding him hostage like this to get more arms or, I don’t know, fuel for their missile launchers.”
As the temporary truce has already been extended for two more days, and with a deal being negotiated to possibly see a four-day extension, the sixth round of hostages are now expected to be released. What is the likelihood of the infant and toddler siblings being released?
The Bibas family with 10 month old Kfir and 4yr old Ariel are once again not on the list of hostages set to be released today.
Inhumane. pic.twitter.com/LyODWhGpiG
Geopolitical observer and security analyst Michael Horowitz has pointed to the sad reality that Israel is unlikely to secure their freedom any time soon. He explains why in the thread below [emphasis ZH]…
* * *
To me the reason is fairly obvious. Hamas wants to drag this on for as long as possible, keep leverage until the end, and is thus purposefully separating families, and keeping the hostages with the most “emotional charge” (particulary the 10-months-old Bibas baby) for the end – if they release them at all.
Now there have been reports that Hamas is claiming it has less hostages than initially thought, and that the group has “lost control” of some of them. Though many commentators even in Israel appear to agree Hamas may have lost control, I tend to believe this is incorrect. Hamas (and this is also not an Israeli success) is still in control: For four days, there were no rocket attacks, not even the odd failed missile attack by one of the fringe jihadist factions in Gaza.
There were claims that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the other major faction in Gaza, was refusing to hand over hostages. But the two hostages we know for a fact were taken by the PIJ (Hannah Katzir and Yaagil Yakov) have both been released… by Hamas. This is not to mention that Hila Rotem said Hamas separated her from her mother, two days before her release.
The IDF spokesperson also said yesterday that Hamas transferred the Bibas family to another Palestinian faction. This ensures, the group can continue to delay, drag its feets, and offer other hostages, while keeping some of the most mediatized Israelis (including a 10-month-old baby) to extend the pause in fighting. Beyond that, giving hostages to other groups also ensures they “buy-into” Hamas’s strategy, and don’t avoid a fight, if it comes (or more likely, when it comes)
After years of unsuccessfully trying to force its woke agenda upon its customers, the world’s largest family entertainment company is finally admitting there may be some truth to the saying coined by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: “Go Woke. Go Broke.”
According to its latest filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Walt Disney Company acknowledged that it faces “risks relating to misalignment with public and consumer tastes and preferences for entertainment, travel, and consumer products,” and that “revenues and profitability are adversely impacted” when their “entertainment offerings and products” don’t “achieve sufficient consumer acceptance.”
Conversely, it describes itself as “a diversified worldwide entertainment company” with “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” objectives that include “building teams that reflect the life experiences of our audiences, while employing and supporting a diverse array of voices in our creative and production teams.”
According to the filing, the company’s revenues for fiscal 2023 were $88.9 billion. While this was a seven percent increase over fiscal year 2022, The Hollywood Reporter noted that Disney was forced to cut spending on television and movie content from $29.8 billion to $27.2, and Business Insider reported in May that Disney entered its third round of layoffs, releasing around 7,000 employees, and scrapping plans to build $900 million corporate campus in Florida.
“The success of our businesses depends on our ability to consistently create compelling content,” it said further in its filing, noting that, “Such distribution must meet the changing preferences of the broad consumer market.”
“The success of our theme parks, resorts, cruise ships and experiences, as well as our theatrical releases, depends on demand for public or out-of-home entertainment experiences,” it said, adding, “Demand for certain out-of-home entertainment experiences, such as theater-going to watch movies, has not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
But despite producing a string of ‘woke’ box office flops—Strange World, Lightyear, The Marvels, and the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid—The Daily Caller revealed that the company has launched a new “pronoun pins” program for its employees at the Epcot Center, which drew immediate backlash.
Overall, Disney says, “The price of our common stock has been, and may continue to be, volatile.”
According to the New York Stock Exchange, Disney’s stock is tanking rapidly.
Disney also admitted that “Damage to our reputation or brands may negatively impact our Company across businesses and regions,” and “Potential credit ratings actions, increases in interest rates, or volatility in the U.S. and global financial markets could impede access to, or increase the cost of, financing our operations and investments.”
Disney Versus DeSantis
As reported by The Epoch Times, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts filed a lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the hand-selected board that oversees Disney’s special taxing district on April 26.
According to the complaint, Disney accused Mr. DeSantis of engaging in “a targeted campaign of government retaliation” as “punishment for Disney’s protected speech.”
The Disney-DeSantis war began in 2021 when the family theme park issued a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for its employees in July 2021. Mr. DeSantis responded on Nov. 18, 2021, by banning vaccine mandates in the Sunshine State.
In March 2022, caving to pressure from activists in the LGBT community, Disney CEO Bob Chapek officially denounced the governor’s Parental Rights in Education legislation, dubbed by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. He also sent a message to all employees, “especially [the company’s] LGBTQ+ community,” apologizing for not acting sooner and announcing that Disney would pause all political contributions in the state.
The following month, Mr. DeSantis retaliated with a threat to repeal the 1967 Reedy Creek Improvement Act (RCIA), which established a special jurisdiction and taxing district for Disney World.
On April 22, 2022, he followed through by signing Senate Bill 4C into law.
The escalation continued until Disney finally filed its lawsuit in April 2023.
On Nov. 17, the Orlando Sentinel reported that U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor will hear arguments on Dec. 12 regarding Disney’s contention that retaliation by the Sunshine State is unconstitutional.
