Time Stamps:
Introduction (0:00)
Where's the Podium? (1:40)
The State of Inflation (2:37)
A Secret Portal to a Social Credit System (3:39)
BRICS Eyeing Blockchain to Bypass US Dollar (7:29)
Sir, the Hot Mic is On (12:20)
Even the Aid is Killing People (14:17)
Where's the Exit? (15:43)
Where's the Podium?
President Joe Biden's 2024 State of the Union Address began with a mental fumble as handlers had to direct him to the podium.
The State of Inflation
After some 40-odd minutes of “lively” (i.e., suspiciously loud and overly enthusiastic) remarks about Ukraine, abortion, and January 6th, Biden made a few runaway remarks about the US economy.
Wages keep going up and inflation keeps coming down. Inflation has dropped from 9% to 3% - the lowest in the world - and trending lower.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin and gold saw an all-time high this very week, indicating a devastating state of affairs regarding the value of the US dollar.
Greg Robb of MarketWatch expects even worse news next week.
With the confusing U.S. February unemployment report in the rear-view mirror, economists will be looking at the consumer inflation data next week for get a better sense of what the Federal Reserve might do with interest rate policy.
The February jobs report had a so many moving parts and revisions that it will put more weight on the inflation data than usual, said Drew Matus, chief market strategist for MetLife Investment Management.
In summary:
A rebound in gasoline prices likely helped drive inflation higher last month.
The CPI is expected to see its biggest gain since September.
A Secret Portal to a Social Credit System
This week saw the revelation of profiles kept on American citizens by the US government, in collusion with 650 companies.
The federal government created 'profiles' on the American people kept in a 'secret portal' shared with companies to identify customer's levels of extremism, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan revealed.
An interface shared between over 650 companies and federal officials holds a 'secret portal' containing sensitive data on American citizens, Jordan warned during a House Weaponization Committee hearing Thursday."
Where did they find 650 corrupt companies, and where is the market discipline to run them all into the ground?
And no whistleblowers from Corporate America?
This mirrors the NSA scandal that Edward Snowden exposed.
BRICS Eyeing Blockchain to Bypass US Dollar
The growing economic bloc known as BRICS is moving towards a blockchain-based currency to circumvent the US dollar.
Mike Maharrey reports:
In an interview on the Russian news agency TASS, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov announced that the BRICS nations plan to develop a new payment system based on the blockchain.
This sets the stage for further de-dollarization and could further undermine the status of the dollar as the global reserve currency.
"We believe that creating an independent BRICS payment system is an important goal for the future, which would be based on state-of-the-art tools such as digital technologies and blockchain.”
Rachel Savage of Reuters had previously covered the talks of a common currency late last year.
Brazil's President called on Wednesday for the BRICS nations to create a common currency for trade and investment between each other, as a means of reducing their vulnerability to dollar exchange rate fluctuations.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made the proposal at a BRICS summit in Johannesburg.
Officials and economists have pointed out the difficulties involved in such a project, given the economic, political and geographic disparities between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Lesetja Kganyago of South Africa explains the challenges involved with the process:
"If you want it, you'll have to get a banking union, you'll have to get a fiscal union, you've got to get macroeconomic convergence," Kganyago said.
"Importantly, you need a disciplining mechanism for the countries that fall out of line with it... Plus they will need a common central bank... where does it get located?
Sir, the Hot Mic is On
Shortly following the speech, Biden confided to a Congressman that he told the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to expect a “come to Jesus meeting.”
Biden was confronted shortly after by a reporter, whom he accused of “eavesdropping” on him.
I guess a private hot mic is a thing?
Even the Aid is Killing People
The official death toll of the current Hamas-Israeli conflict reached 30,000 during a food aid delivery.
Israeli troops fired on a crowd of Palestinians racing to pull food off an aid convoy in Gaza City on Thursday, witnesses said. More than 100 people were killed in the chaos, bringing the death toll since the start of the Israel-Hamas war to more than 30,000, according to health officials.
Israel said many of the dead were trampled in a chaotic stampede for the food aid and that its troops only fired when they felt endangered by the crowd.
The violence was quickly condemned by Arab countries, and U.S. President Joe Biden expressed concern it would add to the difficulty of negotiating a cease-fire in the nearly five-month conflict.
A parachute failed to open, killing two and injuring 11.
Where's the Exit?
Joe Biden's “fiery” State of the Union Address ended the way it began: with a President who didn't know where to go next.
External Resources:
Expect ‘plenty of handwringing about hotter inflation’ next week by Greg Robb
Federal government created 'profiles' on Americans kept in a 'secret portal' shared with 650 companies to track 'extremists' who searched 'MAGA,' 'guns,' and 'Biden' say Republicans by Jon Michael Raasch
BRICS to Develop Blockchain-Based Payment System to Bypass the Dollar by Mike Maharrey
What is a BRICS currency and is the U.S. dollar in trouble? by Rachel Savage
Palestinians say Israeli troops fired at people seeking food. Israel says scene was deadly stampede by Wafaa Shurafa, Kareem Chehayeb, and Melanie Lidman
Transcript of the State of the Union Address by CBS News
The Cognitive State of the Biden Regime