Stephen K. Bannon's Blog, page 826

Fed to hike interest rates this week

BMO Capital Markets chief investment strategist Brian Belski weighs in on the Federal Reserve rate hikes and market volatility. The Federal Reserve is expected to begin raising interest rates this week for the first time in three years as policymakers look to cool red-hot inflation, a move that comes at a precarious time for the U.S. economy as it confronts a continuing pandemic and a war in Europe.   The U.S. central bank is almost certain to raise its benchmark federal funds rate by at least a quarter of a percentage point at the end of its two-day policy-setting meeting on Wednesday. Investors will also be closely watching new projections showing how fast Fed officials believe they need to raise rates this year to prevent soaring inflation from becoming entrenched. RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE: LIVE UPDATESIn December, most officials predicted that rates would hover around 2.10% by the end of 2024. Danielle DiMartino Booth, the CEO of Quill Intelligence and a former advisor to the Dallas Fed president, predicted a ” …

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Lockdown of Shenzhen = More Inflation

Lockdown in Chinese manufacturing hubs Shenzhen and Changchun threatens to worsen inflation in the U.S. and to disrupt global supply chains.
The U.S. imported nearly $48 billion of goods from China in January, the latest month for which data is available. Last year, imports of Chinese goods totaled $506 billion, the second-highest level of imports from China on record.
The Chinese government has placed the city of Shenzhen on lockdown for at least a week and ordered everyone in the city to undergo three rounds of covid tests.
The lockdown has halted many manufacturing operations in Shenzhen, including those of Foxconn, a crucial assembler of Apple’s iPhones.
Shenzhen’s exports of goods reached 1.92 trillion yuan, the equivalent of around $302 billion in 2021, according to official Chinese figures. Electronics and telecommunications equipment reportedly account for over 90 percent of the total output of Shenzhen’s high-tech industries. Huawei Technologies and electric-vehicle maker BYD , which produces elec …

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WH drafts TikTok stars to blame Putin for gas

House Energy Committee member discusses solutions to high gas prices on ‘The Evening Edit.’ The Biden administration tapped teenage TikTok influencers last week to coordinate messaging on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and blame Vladimir Putin for rising gas prices, according to a recording of a call between White House officials and the social media stars. Days later, Ellie Zeiler, and 18-year-old with more than 10 million followers on TikTok, posted a video in which she aimed to answer the question, “Why is gas so expensive?”“Why is gas so expensive, and why is the United States inflation rate at a four-time decade high?” she begins the video. “I had the opportunity to ask the White House why gas down the street is $7 and here’s what they said.” She said the first, “obvious reason,” is that demand is going up as the COVID-19 pandemic winds down and people resume traveling.“But the call was predominantly about Ukraine and Russia, so how does that relate?” she continued. “Russia is one of the top three producers of oil and it is actually their No. 1 revenue source. Now, with Putin starting this horrific fight between Ukraine and Russia, nobody wants to work with him and do international trade.” Zeiler was one of 30 TikTok stars to attend a March 10 Zoom meeting with …

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Bond Market Routs Dizzies Traders

(Bloomberg) — The surging volatility in the world’s biggest bond market is challenging traders trying to play both tighter global monetary policy and a war-induced commodity price shock that’s raising the specter of 1970s-style stagflation.Most Read from BloombergTreasuries rallied sharply after the Russian invasion of Ukraine amid a rush into the safest assets, spurring a race to buy insurance against another unexpected rise in prices. Then last week the pendulum swung back just as swiftly, with 2‑year yields surging to more than two-year highs as a steep jump in consumer prices underscored the case for the interest-rate hikes the Federal Reserve is almost certain to begin on Wednesday. Renewed selling pressure on Monday propelled the 10-year yield up 11 basis points to 2.10%, its highest level since July …

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Netflix Shares Down 50%

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Elizabeth Warren’s Silly Plan for Gas Prices

During the 2020 presidential campaign, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren pledged that she had all the answers. Or, as Warren put it, she “has a plan for that.”Yet despite being misleadingly spun as a policy wonk by many in the media, the Democrat’s campaign plans were never actually very well thought out. Apparently, things haven’t changed. This time, Warren’s policy foolishness is emerging in response to record-high gas prices across the country. During a recent MSNBC interview , Warren (yet again) attempted to blame the high gas prices on corporate greed and “profiteering.”
This silly suggestion requires one to believe that corporations were miraculously feeling generous in 2020, when gas prices fell below $2 per gallon . Yes, businesses seek profits, but supply and demand determine prices, not the whims of corporate executives.
But Warren did more than push her “corporate greed” narrative in this latest interview. She went on to suggest that Democrats are working on a tax hike targeting gas companies they perceive to be raking in unfair levels of profit. “I’m co-sponsoring a bill on windfall profits tax,” Warren said . “Look, we get it — supply and demand, prices go up. But profit margins …

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Texas Rangers Raid Administration Office

Sources say the offices of at least two staff members of County Judge Lina Hidalgo were searched related to a canceled $11 million vaccine outreach contract.

The Texas Rangers and investigators with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office executed search warrants Friday morning at multiple connections relating to an ongoing probe of a multi-million dollar county vaccine contract, KHOU 11 News has learned.
Texas Rangers were on the top floor of the Harris County Administration Building, sources told KHOU 11 News. While the offices of County Judge Lina Hidalgo were not part of the search warrant, the computers and phones of at least two of her staff members were seized, according to sources.

A spokesperson with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office confirmed the warrants were issued but gave no other details.
“A judge signed search warrants, which are legal authorization to search for and seize potential evidence of a crime,” Dane Schiller with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said. “Out of fairness for all parties involved, we have no additional comment at this time.”
At issue is a $10.9 million community vaccine outreach contract originally approved by Harris County Commissioners Court last June.

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Gasoline’s record run pauses

The Schork Group principal Stephen Schork says oil and gasoline are already ‘at crazy levels’ and warns that prices will only continue to rise as travel demand increases over the summer.  The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. put the brakes on a record streak over the weekend. The price slipped by about a half-cent to $4.325 Sunday.Gas hit a record high Friday at $4.33 per gallon, according to AAA.GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE U.S. motorists were reeling over gas prices even before the national average surpassed record highs last week.  However, two-thirds of Americans said gas prices were already too expensive even when the national average hit $3.53 per gallon a few weeks ago, according to a AAA survey. More than half of motorists, 59%, admitted that if prices hit $4 a gallon, they would make changes to their driving habits or lifestyle, according to the data. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESSThe national average has continued to rise since the beginning of the year due to strained supply and increased demand, according to Edmonds. However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two weeks ago caused oil prices to surge higher, pushing prices at the pump to levels not seen in over a decade. FOX Business’ Daniella Genovese contributed to this report. …

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SCOTUS Justice Issues Dire Warning

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is warning about the future of the nation’s highest court.

During an address in Utah sponsored by the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation, Thomas warned about the leftist cultural onslaught and warned that future generations will pay the price if the Supreme Court is overcome.

“My fear isn’t for me. But it is for your kids and your grandkids and the next generation. What are we going to leave them? Are we leaving them a mess or are we leaving them a country? Are we leaving them chaos or are we going to leave them a court?” he said.

Thomas tore into liberals pushing the idea of rigging the court’s structure to produce specific political outcomes, arguing it’s damaging even if it never gets beyond the talking stage.

“You can cavalierly talk about packing or stacking the court. You can cavalierly talk about doing this or doing that. At some point, the institution is going to be compromised,” he said.

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Researcher: Saw Holes In Alfa Bank Hoax Beforehand

A Georgia Tech researcher says he tried to politely throw cold water on a key part of the Russia collusion hoax before the Alfa Bank lie was eventually shopped to the media and government agencies, according to a newly obtained document. This new detail was one of several revealed in a document drafted by George Tech’s Manos Antonakakis—the man branded “Researcher‑1” in Special Counsel John Durham’s indictment of Michael Sussmann on one count of lying to FBI General Counsel James Baker.

As I explained previously, “that indictment alleged that when Sussmann met with Baker on September 19, 2016, to provide the FBI attorney with data and ‘white papers’ that purported to establish a secret communication channel between the Trump organization and the Russia-connected Alfa Bank, Sussmann falsely claimed he was not acting on behalf of a client, when in reality Sussmann was working both for the Clinton campaign and an unnamed ‘U.S. technology indust …

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