Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has confirmed that he’ll meet with Elon Musk when he travels to San Francisco next week, part of a broader US trip in which he’s scheduled to address the UN General Assembly meeting in New York, and meet on the sidelines with US President Joe Biden (which falls far short of the hoped-for invitation to the White House, which has still yet to happen since the PM took office).

An official representing Netanyahu’s office emphasized that the Monday Silicon Valley meeting with Musk and other tech leaders is all about discussing artificial intelligence. But The Washington Post and other major outlets are busy trying to hype it as but PR damage control, with headlines linking the meeting to raging controversy over charges of antisemitism. 

The WaPo in a Thursday report framed the whole initiative, without presenting any verifiable evidence, as follows: “The meeting is the latest step in a campaign by Musk’s Jewish friends and allies, and executives of his social media company, to stave off the mounting controversy, according to five people familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share behind-the-scenes conversations.”

And the report referenced the first round of controversy earlier this past summer, writing, “This summer, Netanyahu smoothed things over in a conversation with Musk after the X owner repeated antisemitic tropes about Jewish financier George Soros.”

But at the time, the very Israeli minister in charge of combating antisemitism, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, had this to say: 

“As Israel’s minister who’s entrusted on combating antisemitism, I would like to clarify that the Israeli government and the vast majority of Israeli citizens see Elon Musk as an amazing entrepreneur and a role model.”

Chikli continued pushing back, referencing some Musk posts on X: “Criticism of Soros – who finances the most hostile organizations to the Jewish people and the state of Israel is anything but antisemitism, quite the opposite!” the Israeli minister said.

But again, with this upcoming meeting the Israeli government itself is emphasizing that Netanyahu as “a champion of Israel’s high tech sector” wants to advance the conversation on innovation with leading AI and tech moguls in the US.

Regardless, critics are now attacking Netanyahu for “enabling hate” by holding such a visible meeting with Musk on his US tour. The WaPo report suggests as much too, and takes the form of a hit piece rather than objective legitimate reporting.

The Times of Israel is meanwhile reporting on planned protests set for Monday:

Israelis in San Francisco said they intended to protest the meeting.

“It’s deeply disturbing that Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the world’s only Jewish state, is flying across America to seek the counsel and support from a notorious enabler of anti-Jewish hate speech,” Offir Gutelzon, an Israeli tech entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, told The Washington Post.

This also as the ADL keeps up the pressure on Musk, stoking the controversy by saying that Jews are frequently targets of “hateful anti-Zionist, and antisemitic invectives” on X, formerly known as Twitter – ultimately blaming Musk.

No kidding … https://t.co/XjA0GASc81

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 14, 2023

Among the difficulties to the claims that Netanyahu’s meeting with Musk is all about powerful, influential Jews and the Israeli government supposedly running cover for Musk is that fact that these types of trips (by a head of state) are typically weeks in planning.

This latest spat with the ADL only flared up with greater intensity this month, and mostly in the last week as the ADL’s public statements attacking the billionaire Tesla and SpaceX owner become more pronounced. The timing is also curious given the recent polls showing Trump’s support outpacing Biden’s going into the 2024 election. Musk this week had some things to say about this during a virtual address to the “All-In summit” in Los Angeles…

ELON MUSK: “The ADL was instrumental in getting Donald Trump deplatformed. When we restored the account, they made it super clear that they regarded simply restoring his account on Twitter, now X, constituted hateful speech. He hasn’t even said anything”pic.twitter.com/RQYjYjMDJO

— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) September 13, 2023

It also remains that Musk-Netanyahu cooperation on AI has been long in process: “In June, Netanyahu also announced that he was setting up a team to formulate Israel’s policy on artificial intelligence after conversations with Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Netanyahu has said he wants to make Israel a world leader in AI,” Israeli media has previously confirmed. 

Authored by Philip Wegmann via RealClearPolitics.com,

President Biden immediately got to the point for a change, former President Trump was surprisingly polite, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sounded only mildly robotic. 

On Wednesday, a new project called Chat2024 will roll out avatars of each major presidential candidate, allowing voters to ask the aspiring leaders of the free world absolutely anything. The era of the AI politician has arrived.

Ask if Hunter Biden is a crook, and an AI clone of Biden will respond first that “Hunter, like many Americans, has faced his share of personal struggles,” and second, “that there’s been no evidence of wrongdoing by Hunter.” 

When pressed if he tried to steal the previous presidential election, an AI clone of Trump will insist that he has “always been about the truth,” and that “the truth is there were irregularities that need to be addressed – I’ve never tried to steal anything.”

Inquire about his war with the world’s biggest cartoon conglomerate and an AI clone of DeSantis will say his “issue isn’t with Mickey Mouse or any other Disney character,” but rather “with the corporate decisions made by Disney, a company that has enjoyed special privileges in Florida for decades.”

The technology comes courtesy of a Miami company called Delphi, which secured $2.7 million in initial investment last week for a chatbot that allows users to communicate with digital clones of everyone from athletes and celebrities to historical figures and loved ones.

And now politicians. More than a digital parlor trick, the tool creates a forum for substantive conversation, not just the kind of questions that would likely get reporters blacklisted by real campaigns.

Dara Ladjevardian, the 27-year-old co-founder of Delphi, told RealClearPolitics that the clones of each politician have been trained on data scraped from hundreds and hundreds of speeches, op-eds, and statements made by living, breathing candidates. In turn, his replicants can spit out in-depth answers about everything from international diplomacy to domestic social policy.

“Hallucination is solved by citation,” Ladjevardian added while explaining how his company attempts to bridge the divide between artificial universes and grounded reality. He noted that the tool provides users with links to check the answers of the chatbot against the public record of the real candidates.

The good government mission of the program was inspired, Ladjevardian explained, when he was knocking on doors for his mother, Texas Democrat Sima Ladjevardian, who ran unsuccessfully against Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw in 2020. If everything goes according to plan, he said, citizens will use the tech to become more informed and therefore will be more likely to get out and vote. The goal of his business long-term: “We hope that Delphi becomes the blue check mark of AI clones.”

Users can query those clones one by one or have them debate each other on a particular issue. And “in about a month,” Ladjevardian said his company will introduce a voice feature allowing individuals to “actually call and have a real-time conversation” with the AI candidate clones.

But is it safe? And is it trustworthy? Ladjevardian said that Chat2024 “will never say something the opposite of what [the real candidate] believes,” though it will try to respond to new situations and questions by generating answers developed from “the core principles of the person that is being represented.” And to keep trolls from using the service for mischief, the company has already developed what he called “a strict attack model.”

The AI clones will talk policy all day long. As designed, the AI clones will not, however, touch any topic that’s not safe to discuss in the workplace or broadcast during a primetime televised debate.

In all of this, Ladjevardian presents as the stereotypical good guy tech bro, like so many of the whip-smart entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley who came before him and who insisted their technology could make the world a better place. He knows this. One of the core values of his company, he said to illustrate that altruism, was “good quests over bad quests.”

A good AI quest: helping educate voters. A bad AI quest: generating interactive pornography.

Delphi had the opportunity to partner with OnlyFans creators, adult models who sell images and videos of themselves for a fee, to create “AI girlfriends.” Ultimately though, the computer scientist told RCP, the company deemed that a bad quest, “even though it offered potentially a lot of revenue.”

His focus is instead on politics at the moment, and he wants candidates to get to know their clones. They could use the bots to better communicate with voters, he said, but also to scrape data from the questions that voters pose to glean insights about what matters to the electorate. Operatives of two presidential candidates, who spoke with RealClearPolitics on condition of anonymity, said they will pass.

“I’m just supposed to rely on the word of this third party? Yeah, right,” said one incredulous senior campaign aide who doubted the algorithm powering Chat2024 was truly agnostic. Artificial intelligence, the aide insisted, was only as neutral as the human programmer behind the curtain. “We have all seen the stories about how ChatGPT leans left,” they added, referencing another popular AI program.

Americans are already skeptical of flesh-and-blood politicians, an operative working on another campaign said. “Just wait until the words coming out of their mouths aren’t actually theirs.” It isn’t that they doubt the technology though. The aide said that AI might be good “for math equations and cheating on your homework.” But for politics? “It’s a ticking time bomb.”

Regulators in Washington, D.C., have struggled to catch up with the brave new world promised by accelerating artificial intelligence. They are already behind. The DeSantis campaign released an ad over the summer featuring Trump embracing and kissing former chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci. By design, the obvious “deep fake” was easy to spot. Others, like the attack ad that used AI audio to imitate the voices of Nikki Haley and Tim Scott, could more easily pass as the real thing.

This hasn’t stopped at least one campaign from trying to clone their own candidate. One contender currently in the race, RCP has learned, has actively explored the possibility of using an AI built in-house to potentially communicate with voters and also fundraise across multiple mediums.

“There are major flashing warning signs here,” Darrell West, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation, told RCP.

“Even if right now the clones track with what the candidates have actually said, there’s no guarantee that will continue to be the case.”

West believes that the time for significant AI regulation was yesterday. It isn’t enough to simply rely on “the good intentions” of developers, he said, when the technology is powerful enough to permanently and immediately affect the foundation of representative government. The Iowa caucuses are just four months away, he added, and regulators are woefully behind.

“We are knee deep in the campaign already,” West said, “and unless Congress passes something right away, there basically will be no guardrails in place for this election.”

There is no stopping artificial intelligence, Ladjevardian countered. “Pandora’s Box is already open,” he said. “There is literally no going back, even if they shut down open AI today.” He would rather lawmakers and candidates work with him to harness the accelerating technology for pro-democratic ends.

Human candidates are increasingly hustling to develop policy answers in the real world on the issue of artificial intelligence. Their Chat2024 clones, meanwhile, can develop answers based on the little that has been said already. And they can do it in just a fraction of a second.

By Tsvetana Paraskova of Oilprice.com

High margins on the export markets and peak domestic summer demand prompted China’s refiners to boost crude oil processing to a record-high 15.23 million barrels per day (bpd) in August, official Chinese data showed on Friday.  

The total throughput jumped last month by 19.6% compared to August 2022, according to data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) quoted by Reuters. The rise in refinery runs was the highest annual increase since March 2021, Reuters noted.

Between January and August, refinery throughput went up by 11.9% year-over-year to 14.76 million bpd, per Reuters estimates.

The August 2023 refinery processing rates were higher than in the previous month, too. In July, Chinese refiners processed 17.4% more crude compared to a year ago, in response to stronger demand for fuels both at home and abroad. At 14.87 million bpd in July, the refinery processing was up from 12.5 million barrels daily a year earlier.

Refinery throughput further accelerated in August with record runs, thanks to peak summer travel demand in China and higher volumes of fuel exports as refiners looked to capture strong margins abroad and had additional export quotas allocated.   

China imported in August the third-highest monthly crude oil volumes ever as crude arrivals surged by 20.9% compared to July and by 30.9% versus August last year, according to Chinese customs data.

Chinese crude imports hit 12.43 million bpd last month, the third-highest ever daily rate of arrivals in a month, per Reuters estimates on data from the General Administration of Customs.

Refinery throughputs are likely to remain elevated as China has just issued the third batch of fuel export quotas for this year.

At the end of August, China issued a larger-than-expected fuel export quota in the third batch of allocations this year as authorities look to incentivize refiners to sustain economic growth and sell more product abroad at a time when China’s 2023 fuel demand may have peaked.

The news of record-high refinery throughput only added to bullish sentiment in oil markets, pushing both WTI and Brent higher.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has launched a new program for disenfranchised cops in Illinois.

Move to Florida, and score a $5,000 signing bonus for relocating to the Sunshine State as part of its law enforcement recruitment bonus program signed into law by DeSantis last year.

To promote the program, DeSantis has taken out billboards in Illinois which read: “Citizenship Matters. Law Enforcement Matters,” and “Make the Smart Move to Florida!”

We are launching law enforcement recruitment billboards in Chicago, where crime rates are soaring and officers are unappreciated.

While dozens of Illinois officers have already relocated to Florida, we look forward to welcoming many more with open arms and a $5,000 bonus. pic.twitter.com/kpVBOW3nLW

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) September 14, 2023

DeSantis cited an Illinois law taking effect next year which will allow some illegal migrants to become cops, as well as the blue state’s elimination of a cash bail system.

“Florida strongly supports law enforcement and has consistently enacted commonsense criminal justice policies to keep our communities safe,” said DeSantis.

“We stand behind our citizen officers, and we give them the tools to succeed professionally and personally. Other states deputize noncitizens, enact policies that favor criminals over victims and work to overtly or covertly defund the police, but not in Florida. I look forward to welcoming the Illinois men and women in blue to the law-and-order state.”

The Illinois bill to let non-citizens join the police “provides that an individual who is not a citizen but is legally authorized to work in the United States under federal law is authorized to apply for the position of police officer, subject to all requirements and limitations, other than citizenship, to which other applicants are subject.”

Meanwhile, Illinois will end cash bail after Jan. 1, after the bill survived a legal challenge from both sheriffs and prosecutors who said it was unconstitutional, according to Fox News.

According to the report, more than 2,700 new law enforcement recruits have signed up under the recruitment drive, including 750 from 48 states. Of those, 230 are from California, New York and Pennsylvania, while 37 are from Illinois.

“Anybody who’s interested in coming down” is welcome, DeSantis told a crowd in Chicago, “If you want to be part of our law enforcement community, just know that the door is open.“

Authored by Megan Redshaw via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The CDC launched a new digital campaign to encourage the vaccine-hesitant to get a flu shot to merely “tame” symptoms.

With CPI and PPI both printing hotter than expected, import and exports prices rising more than expected, and the market’s implied inflation expectation also soaring, this morning’s much-watched UMich inflation expectations index should be a little moot.

Nevertheless, the survey respondents from the UMich survey saw inflation expectations plunging both short- and medium-term…

Source: Bloomberg

So sentiment is seeing slowing inflation, but the market is seeing re-acceleration…

Source: Bloomberg

The headline sentiment indicator for the preliminary September data declined from 69.5 to 67.7, with current conditions tumbling while future expectations inched higher…

Source: Bloomberg

Survey Director Joanne Hsu notes that “so far, few consumers mentioned the potential federal government shutdown, but if the shutdown comes to bear, consumer views on the economy will likely slide, as was the case just a few months ago when the debt ceiling neared a breach.”

Buying conditions worsened across all cohorts…

So the consumer thinks that inflation is under control, and hope is high… but they are less willing to spend?

Since the beginning of Covid, employees have gained a lot of leverage, benefiting from remote work options and higher wage demands. However, this favorable period may be coming to an end. Some corporate executives now call workers “lazy,” with one exec suggesting that economic pain will be needed to “remind people that they work for the employer, not the other way around.” 

At an investor conference hosted by Morgan Stanley on Wednesday, Barry Biffle, CEO of budget airlines Frontier Group Holdings Inc., said, “We got lazy in Covid. I mean, seriously, people are still allowing people to work from home. All this silliness, right?” 

Biffle’s comments highlight the push by corporate America to impose more strict in-office mandates after productivity declines materialized shortly after the proliferation of remote work. 

“When we look at overhead versus 2019 adjusted for capacity, it’s up dramatically,” he said, adding, “Why do I have more people per plane in overhead than I had in 2019? It’s because they’re not as productive.”

“Look, we’re not alone in this. You hear every company out there talking about productivity challenges,” Biffle said.

Just before billionaire businessman Sam Zell passed away in late May, he called remote work “One of the biggest lies in the world is that people working from home are more productive than people working in the office.” He noted, “You have much less productivity if you’re working from home in your pajamas with three little kids running around than if you’re in an office.” 

Others have voiced their concerns about lazy workers and a slide in productivity, and the next executive isn’t from the US but Australia. 

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, property developer Tim Gurner called employees arrogant and warned unemployment must surge to revive productivity. 

At a business event earlier this week, Gurner said Covid had a “massive effect” on productivity. He said, “The problem that we’ve had is that people decided they didn’t really want to work so much any more through COVID.” 

Gurner offers a solution that no worker wants to hear: 

“We need to see pain in the economy. We need to remind people that they work for the employer, not the other way around. There’s been a systematic change where employees feel the employer is extremely lucky to have them, as opposed to the other way around. It’s a dynamic that has to change.”

These are very harsh comments from corporate elites who are angered by the shift in leverage workers have received. They now want revenge, which might be in the form of a downturn — where they can reduce wages and cut workers. Recall Walmart already kicked off the reduction in wages for new employees. 

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

The term “Bond Vigilantes” is a nostalgic twist on an old-west theme. In the nineteenth century, the American West formed self-appointed groups, or committees, to seize the duties of law enforcement and judicial authority in situations when citizens found law enforcement lacking or inadequate.

In the bond market, the term “Bond Vigilante” was first coined by Ed Yardeni in 1980 when bond traders sold Treasurys in response to the growing power of the Federal Reserve and its policies on the U.S. economy. (Sound familiar?) According to Investopedia:

“A bond vigilante is a bond trader who threatens to sell, or actually sells, a large number of bonds to protest or signal distaste with policies of the issuer. Selling bonds depress their prices, pushing interest rates up and making it more costly for the issuer to borrow.”

If the “Sheriff” in town isn’t doing their job, the premise is that holders will become “Bond Vigilantes” and “take the law into their own hands.”

Over the last couple of years, the fear of “Bond Vigilantes” has returned with the surge of inflation since 2022. Even Ed Yardeni, the economist who coined the term “Bond Vigilantes” and has regularly predicted their return to the investment landscape ever since, says they’re “saddling up.”

The problem is that the expected return of the “Bond Vigilantes” is flawed as it is based on the premise that those vigilantes have the power to “take the law of monetary policy into their own hands.”

“Shorting government bonds when the central bank is politically aligned with the Treasury is a sure-fire way to lose lots of money. The consolidated government’s balance sheet consists of IOU liabilities that it can manufacture in infinite quantities. Why would anyone think they can win that game? It’s like my writing  IOUs for blog points. Maybe I write more than I can ever cover for. But I create the points. I can always create more. if I write too many, their value depreciates.” – Credit Writedowns, circa 2011.

As shown in the chart below, since 1980, betting on the return of the vigilantes has been a losing bet. (It is worth noting that previous spikes in the annual rates of change in rates preceded either financial events or recessions. The current episode is magnitudes more significant than any prior event since 1954)

Lastly, if you are betting on the return of the vigilantes, the track record of betting against the bond market since 1787 remains quite dismal.

The biggest flaw in the “return of the Bond Vigilantes” theory remains the “Town Sheriff.”

The Central Bank Sherriffs

As noted above, since 1980, the Federal Reserve has been a critical player in the bond market. Either through monetary policy changes, raising or lowering interest rates, or, as seen since 2008, directly intervening in the bond market. Those actions by the Federal Reserve were always in response to a financial event, crisis, or recession.

While Central Banks have always been the “Sheriff” in town, the “Bond Vigilantes” can run amok for a while before finding themselves on the wrong end of the hangman’s noose. Such has mainly been the case following the Financial Crisis in 2008.

“Earlier this year, the world’s most famous bond investor, Bill Gross, was short U.S. government debt. He was hailed as THE VIGILANTE by Megan McArdle at The Atlantic. At long last, it seemed, the long-dormant bond vigilantes had arrived on horseback, ready to force the U.S. government into austerity.” – Business Insider, 2011

Of course, that venture by Bill Gross backfired as Central Banks repeatedly stepped in. To quote the President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi.

“We will do whatever it takes to preserve the continent’s common currency.”

Doing “whatever it takes” has not been just the stance of the ECB “Sheriff,” but every major Central Bank since 2008. As discussed in “Deficit Surge:”

“Many ‘bond bears’ suggest that rates must rise as deficits increase and more debt is issued. The theory is that at some point, buyers will require a higher yield to buy more debt from the U.S. Such is perfectly logical in a normally functioning bond market where the only players are the individual and institutional bond market players. In other words, as long as ‘all else is equal,’ rates should rise in such an environment.“

All Else Is Not Equal

However, all else is not equal in a global economy where government debt yields are controlled by Central Banks colluding with Governments to maintain economic growth, control inflation, and avoid financial crises.

This monetization of debt issuance to support anemic economic growth, suppress inflationary forces, and depress borrowing costs will not change in the future. The biggest problem with the “Bond Vigilante” thesis is the inability of the economy to sustain higher rates due to mounting debt issuance and rising deficits. The chart below models the CBO analysis using the growth trend of debt but also includes the need for the Federal Reserve to monetize nearly 30% of the issuance.

At the current growth rate, the Federal debt load will climb from $32 trillion to roughly $140 trillion by 2050. Concurrently, assuming the Fed continues monetizing 30% of debt issuance, its balance sheet will swell to more than $40 trillion.

While you may think such is unsustainable, there is a clear example of why “Bond Vigilantes” keep getting arrested.

Japan Is A Good Example

Since 2008, Japan has run a massive “quantitative easing” program. That program, on a relative basis, is 3-times more extensive than in the U.S. Not surprisingly, economic prosperity is only marginally higher since the turn of the century. Nonetheless, if the thesis of “Bond Vigilantes” is valid, and if they exist, then Japan should be fighting significantly higher interest rates and inflation, given a debt-GDP ratio of more than 210%.

Surprisingly, there is no evidence of such. Maybe the situation would be markedly different if the Bank of Japan (BOJ) didn’t own most ETF, corporate, and government debt markets. However, such is also why Japan continues to be plagued by rolling recessions, low inflation, and low-interest rates. (Japan’s 10-year Treasury rate fell into negative territory for the second time recently.) 

While many argue the U.S. economy will eventually “grow” its way out of debt, there is no evidence such a capability exists. We know that interest rates in the U.S. and globally are telling us economic growth will remain weak in the future. While the recent surge in U.S. interest rates resulted from massive one-time liquidity injections, the similarities between the U.S. and Japan remain a stark reminder of where interest rates will ultimately be.

The reality is that each time interest rates tick higher, the rumors of the return of the “Bond Vigilante” surface. In the short term, it may seem like they are moving markets. However, eventually, the “Sheriff” will arrive to reassert its force on the markets. This isn’t a good thing, as noted by my colleague Doug Kass:

“The fact is that financial engineering does not help an economy, it probably hurts it. If it helped, after mega-doses of the stuff in every imaginable form, the Japanese economy would be humming. But the Japanese economy is doing the opposite. Japan tried to substitute monetary policy for sound fiscal and economic policy. And the result is terrible.”

Japan is a microcosm of what the U.S. will face in the coming years.

As in the play by Samuel Beckett, those waiting for the “Bond Vigilantes” to arrive may just as well be waiting on Godot.

For the first time in United Auto Workers’ 88-year history, the union has mobilized a strike against Detroit’s “Big Three” automakers – General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis, the producer of Chrysler. Negotiations for a new four-year labor contract between UAW and the three automakers broke down before midnight, triggering a strike at several manufacturing plants. 

As many as 13,000 UAW workers abandoned their workstations. They walked out of factories belonging to the Big Three, including the Ford Motor Co. plant in Michigan that makes Bronco SUVs, a General Motors Co. factory in Missouri that assembles Chevrolet Colorado pickups, and a Stellantis NV plant in Ohio that builds Jeep Wrangler SUVs, at 2359 ET (as the current labor contract expired). 

“Tonight, for the first time in our history, we will strike all three of the Big Three at once,” UAW boss Shawn Fain declared. 

Fain explained, “This strategy will keep the companies guessing. It will give our national negotiators maximum leverage and flexibility in bargaining. And if we need to go all out, we will. Everything is on the table.”

Fain told workers at a Ford Assembly Plant in Michigan, “We didn’t want to be here. We want a fair agreement. We want fair economic and social justice for our members. That’s what this is all about. And it’s a shame.” 

Oh, is that all? pic.twitter.com/vf3xSvgpqM

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) September 15, 2023

Reporters asked Fain whether a 20% pay increase for a new contract would be acceptable for workers. He argued that automobile prices have surged 30% in the last four years while pay for CEOs has jumped even higher. 

Ford and GM shares in premarket trading are down about 1.5%. Also, watch auto suppliers: Aptiv, Autoliv, BorgWarner, Adient, American Axle, Visteon, Lear, and Goodyear Tire. 

John Murphy, a senior auto analyst at Bank of America Securities, was correct last week when he warned clients that a strike was “almost guaranteed.” 

Meanwhile, President Biden was very wrong about the strikes. Earlier this month, during a visit to his beach house in liberal white-elitest Rehoboth Beach, he said, “I’m not worried about a strike. I don’t think it’s going to happen.” 

UAW’s targeted strikes are hitting automaker’s most popular and profitable models. They have so far spared plants that make Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado, and Ram pickups, as those plants could be targeted down the line. 

As for strike impacts, HSBC analyst Michael Tyndall told clients Stellantis would endure $373 million per week as long as the labor action was underway. 

Also, “Small and medium-sized manufacturers across the country will feel the brunt of this work stoppage, whether they are a union shop or not,” the National Association of Manufacturers said in a statement. 

Gene Munster, a managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, told clients in a note Thursday that Tesla appears to be the big winner here as it has spent years fending off unionization attempts. 

“Big auto is in a tight place when it comes to transitioning its business to electric, and the current UAW discussions will eventually result in a steep increase in costs that will further push them into the red,” Munster said.

Bloomberg’s Mark Cudmore warned a prolonged strike could send a wrong message to companies attempting to re-shore operations across the US because labor will be too expensive. 

It begins…

Workers walk out of the Toledo Assembly plant weaving the UAW and wearing strike ready t-shirts. #StandUp pic.twitter.com/s75ah7icPb

— Luis Feliz Leon (@Lfelizleon) September 15, 2023

And so… It begins

At midnight of September 14, after decades, #AutoWorkers walk out IN POWER from the factories of Ford, General Motors & Stellantis starting #strike action demanding new contract#StandUpUAW @UAW #UAWStrike #UAWSolidarity pic.twitter.com/7m3B8bJN9J

— PAME Greece International (@PAME_Greece) September 15, 2023

🎶We are the union, the mighty mighty union🎶
This is what the gates of the Ford assembly plant looks like in Wayne, Michigan. For the first time ever, Big 3 auto workers are on strike at the same time. #StandUpUAW #UAWStrike pic.twitter.com/S3CoTSwvIf

— Left_Voice (@left_voice) September 15, 2023

The start of a strike by the three largest car manufacturers (Ford, GM, Stellantis) in the USA. The 150,000-member UAW union is demanding a 40% pay increase, similar to that of managers, and a 32-hour week with 40 hours pay.

🔺12,700 workers at three factories walked off work at… pic.twitter.com/VLc0T71XBc

— Sprinter (@Sprinter99800) September 15, 2023

From the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne Michigan, UAW workers are on strike! @UAW #UAWStrike #StandUpUAW pic.twitter.com/WFP8xoLd4n

— Left_Voice (@left_voice) September 15, 2023

@UAW workers are leaving General Motor’s Wentzville auto plant en masse. The strike officially began 10 minutes ago.#UAWStandUp #UAWStrike #UAW pic.twitter.com/6zsjpGBbgt

— Updates (@sirfupdate) September 15, 2023 

The BBC’s ‘disinformation’ correspondent, Marianna Spring, was busted lying on her CV to win a job, according to The New European, a British newspaper, which has seen emails between Spring and Natalia Antelava, the editor-in-chief of US publication Coda Story.

According to the report, Spring was trying to land a job as a Moscow stringer, when she said on her resume that she had worked alongside BBC Eastern Europe correspondent Sarah Rainsford.

Spring’s CV read: “June 2018: Reported on International News during the World Cup, specifically the perception of Russia, with BBC correspondent Sarah Rainsford.“

Except that didn’t happen.

Antelava, a former BBC journalist herself, checked the claim with Rainsford, who said she had only met with Spring in social situations and never worked together.

Spring has apologized for her “awful misjudgement,” according to emails seen by New European‘s Tim Walker.

“I’ve only bumped into Sarah whilst she’s working and chatted to her at various points, but nothing more. Everything else on my CV is entirely true,” Spring wrote, adding “There’s absolute [sic] no excuse at all, and I’m really sorry again. The only explanation at all is my desperation to report out in Moscow, and thinking that it wouldn’t be a big deal, which was totally naive and stupid of me.”

Antelova had none of it, telling Spring in a reply: “Telling me you are a brilliant reporter who exercises integrity and honesty when you have literally demonstrated the opposite was a terrible idea … I am sure if you use this as a lesson, things will work out.”

Spring has become a rising star at the BBC, where she’s won multiple awards for her reporting on conspiracy theories.

Last month she told the Times of London that she’s become a prime target for trolls.