Author: Tyler Durden

Biden Admits Communism Is A “Failed System”, Socialism’s No Better, & Cuba A “Failed State” Authored by Lorenz Duchamps via The Epoch Times, The authoritarian and communist regime of Cuba is a “failed state” and universally, communism is a “failed system,” President Joe Biden said while speaking from the White House on Thursday. “Communism is a failed system—a universally failed system. And I don’t see socialism as a very useful substitute, but that’s another story,” Biden said during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Biden’s remarks were the strongest signal yet by the president in support of Cubans demonstrating against the ruling regime of leader Miguel Diaz-Canel—also the head of the Cuban Communist Party. He also addressed that his administration is “considering” ways to possibly reinstate access to the internet for people on the island nation after the regime disrupted citizens from their online communications in the wake of the biggest anti-government protests in decades. “We’re considering whether we have the technological ability to reinstate that access,” Biden said.

The Fed’s “Inflation Bubble” By James Carson, former chief economist at Alliance Bernstein The Federal Reserve continues to argue that the US is experiencing an “inflation bubble.” Even though the uptick in consumer prices has run hotter and longer than policymakers expected, the “inflation bubble” will deflate at some point. Policymakers offer no timeline for the moderation but continue to promote the view that inflation will drift back to the 2% mark, implying that the economy has a preset ceiling of inflation and nothing more. The Fed’s inflation story is paradoxical. It comes from an institution that has long argued inflation is a monetary phenomenon. The current policy stance is the most accommodative monetary stance in history, so expectations of more inflation, not a reversal, should be expected. Also, the Federal Reserve, which has long argued that it’s impossible to identify an asset bubble beforehand, can now suddenly see an “inflation bubble” and also predict its end. Investors need to be aware that inflation cycles do not die on their own. But die when there is a sustained tightening of monetary policy. Also, inflation cycles have bad endings for the simple reason they create liquidity on the way up, and

JPM On What’s Behind The Market Selloff With stocks sliding for the second day in a row, and decisively ending a streak that saw the S&P hit record highs on 13 of the past 16 trading days, traders are stumped trying to figure out what’s behind the market’s weakness. Addressing this topic, JPM senior trader Brian Heavey had some observations, which however won’t be especially actionable because as he admits, “short answer is there is no “great” reason for the sell off.” Here are his thoughts on what’s behind the air pocket in the market. Market internals have been weakening for days now and it seems the violent sell-off was only a matter of time. Bank stocks struggling to rally to could be the canary in the coal mine once again forQ2 earnings season (recall retail prints were generally sold amid elevated expectations despite VERY strong prints vs. consensus). Rates continues to come down and value/cyclical simply can’t find it’s footing at the moment. Days like today give us a window into positioning and it is clear the specialty

BOJ Goes Green: Will Offer Interest-Free Loans Under New Climating-Financing Facility Japan’s NIRP regime is finally over… at least for a handful of “virtuous” companies that plan on “investing” in “green” projects. On Friday, the Bank of Japan – in addition to announcing that its main monetary policy levers remain unchanged, including short-term interest rates at minus 0.1% and long-term rates at around zero – outlined a new loan facility to banks lending to projects or companies tackling climate change, as the country – already one of the least polluting in the world – speeds up its shift to even cleaner energy and hasten efforts to reduce emissions. The new climate lending facility will allow the central bank to lend to commercial banks at zero interest rates for up to one year. And yes, getting a 0 interest in the country that brought us NIRP is supposed to be a reward. The loans can be rolled over without a limit under the facility, which is scheduled to last through fiscal 2030. As an additional kicker, and adding to the brain damage of doing math in a NIRP nation, the BOJ will exempt reserves held at the central bank from the

41 Percent Of Baltimore High School Students Earn Below 1.0 GPA: Analysis Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), An analysis found that a significant number of Baltimore high school students earned below a “D” grade point average during the first three quarters of the 2020–2021 school year. WBFF’s Project Baltimore’s analysis found that during that time period, 41 percent earned a 1.0-grade point average (GPA) or below. That means more than 8,400 students out of Baltimore City Schools’ 20,500 total population are getting grades below a “D” overall. The analysis found that 21 percent of city high school students obtained a 3.0 or better GPA—or a “B” average. The Epoch Times has reached out to the City of Baltimore and Baltimore City Schools for comment. The school district appeared to blame the COVID-19 pandemic on the reason for the poor student performance. “Consistent with the experience of many school districts across the country, the COVID-19 pandemic created significant disruptions to student learning. As early as the summer of 2020, City Schools identified large numbers of students with decreases in their grade point

“China Senses Weakness”: Pence Urges Biden To Take Tougher Stance On CCP Authored by Isabel van Brugen via The Epoch Times, Former Vice President Mike Pence in a foreign policy speech on Wednesday called on the Biden administration to toughen its stance on China, saying that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) “senses weakness in the new administration.” Speaking at the Heritage Foundation headquarters in Washington, D.C., Pence urged that President Joe Biden delist Chinese firms that fail meet U.S. accounting standards, end all public and private funding of scientific research in China, and demand transparency from Beijing on the origins of the CCP virus, among other actions to address China’s abuses of the international rules-based order. Millions of Americans are “awake to the fact that the Chinese Communist Party aspires not merely to join the community of economically developed nations, but to sit atop a new global order created in its own image,” the former vice president said. “A world in which freedom is constrained, but Beijing’s power is not.” Biden must take a harder line amid “the emerging cold war with China,” Pence said of the threat posed

Intel To Buy Chip Fabricator GlobalFoundaries For $30 Billion In Biggest Deal Yet: WSJ Thursday was another rough day for the semiconductor space as most of the biggest US-traded chipmakers traded in the red as the global chip shortage overshadowed what ended up being a solid earnings report from TSMC (which also affirmed plans to expand its production capacity in the US and Japan). But even bigger news concerning the troubled semis space broke Thursday evening when WSJ reported that Intel has agreed to the biggest acquisition in its half-a-century existence. According to the American business broadsheet of record, Intel has agreed to buy chip fabricator GlobalFoundaries for $30 billion. Most importantly, the deal marks the company’s biggest move yet into the foundry segment, a segment currently dominated by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing – or TSMC – the world’s most important chipmaker. Put another way, the deal is the biggest volley yet in new Intel chief Pat Gelsinger’s “war” on TSMC. As we noted above, news of the deal is breaking shortly after Taiwan Semi announced its plans to expand production in the US,

US Deploys F-16s To Bulgaria For Yet Another Black Sea Exercise Authored by Rick Rozoff via AntiWar.com, Eight US F-16 multirole combat aircraft arrived at the Graf Ignatievo Air Base in Bulgaria on July 9 for this year’s iteration of the Thracian Star military exercise. The joint American-Bulgarian air force exercise is being conducted to, according to US Air Forces in Europe and Air Force Africa, “enhance the ability to rapidly deploy to remote locations and provide credible force to assure stability for the region.” The region is the Black Sea, where what the US and NATO consider “temporarily-occupied territory,” Crimea, and the Russian Black Sea Fleet are located. Not far beyond are the South Caucasus, the Donbass and the Middle East (for example, Syria and Iran). Image via Atlantic Club of Bulgaria/Lockheed Martin The F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft arrived from the Aviano Air Base, Italy, which was employed for NATO’s bombing campaigns in Bosnia and Kosovo, and airmen from the 435th Combat Training Squadron and the 4th Combat Training Squadron deployed from Ramstein, Germany where both US Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa and NATO Allied Air Command have their headquarters. The latter two share a commander, as do

Escobar: New ‘Great Game’ Gets Back To Basics Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Asia Times, Russia-China-Iran alliance is taking Afghanistan’s bull by the horns… The Great Game: This lithograph by British Lieutenant James Rattray shows Shah Shuja in 1839 after his enthronement as Emir of Afghanistan in the Bala Hissar (fort) of Kabul. Rattray wrote: ‘A year later the sanctity of the scene was bloodily violated: Shah Shuja was murdered.’ Photo: Wikipedia Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is on a Central Asian loop all through the week. He’s visiting Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The last two are full members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, founded 20 years ago. The SCO heavyweights are of course China and Russia. They are joined by four Central Asian “stans” (all but Turkmenistan), India and Pakistan. Crucially, Afghanistan and Iran are observers, alongside Belarus and Mongolia. And that leads us to what’s happening this Wednesday in Dushanbe, the Tajik capital. The SCO will hold a 3 in 1: meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers, the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group, and a conference titled “Central and South Asia: Regional

Six Facts The Left Doesn’t Want You To Know About Global Warming Authored by David Simon via RealClearMarkets.com, President Biden implores us that climate change is an “existential threat” to humanity. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry preaches to us that “[t]he climate crisis as a whole is a national security threat because it is disruptive to the daily lives of human beings all over the world.” Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warns us that in 2030, “the world is going to end … if we don’t address climate change.” Hold on to your wallet. The Left’s global warming Chicken Littles insist that the sky is falling but don’t want you to know six key facts. First, in his new book “Unsettled,” Obama Administration Department of Energy chief scientist Steven Koonin shows that the models relied upon by the Left to predict future global warming are so poor that they cannot even reproduce the temperature changes in the 20th century. If these models cannot reproduce past temperatures already known when the models were developed, how can they possibly reliably predict temperatures decades into the future?

Democrats Strike Deal On $3.5 Trillion “Human Infrastructure” Package Months after the Biden Administration and its Congressional allies leaked the first details of President Biden’s massive two-part “Build Back Better” infrastructure plan, Chuck Schumer, the Democrats’ leader in the Senate, just announced that Democrats have united behind a $3.5 trillion “infrastructure” spending package, which they can now pass using special budget rules allowing them to circumvent the filibuster. In a late-night announcement Tuesday, Schumer said the Budget Committee had reached an agreement to allot $3.5 trillion for a spending package that would complete President Biden’s infrastructure plan. “The Budget Committee has come to an agreement,” Sen. Schumer told reporters Tuesday night following a closed-door meeting with Democratic lawmakers. The deal adds to the $600 billion package of infrastructure measures that Biden has struck with Republicans. “You add that to that the $600 billion in a bipartisan plan and you get to $4.1 trillion, which is very, very close to what President Biden has asked us for,” Schumer said. “Every major program that President Biden has asked us for is funded in

WHO Is Working On “Digital Wallet” To Store Vaccination Certification: Official Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times, A World Health Organization (WHO) official said that the organization is working to develop a COVID-19 vaccine “digital wallet” and is also seeking to “increase the distribution” of an international certificate for those who’ve been vaccinated. Dr. Michael Ryan, an Irish epidemiologist who is head of the WHO health emergencies program dealing with COVID-19, made the remarks during a daily news briefing on July 12 in Geneva. “We have encouraged countries that want to, they may use the international certificate for vaccination and prophylaxis … that requires other countries to recognize that certificate of vaccination,” Ryan said, adding that WHO is “working to increase the distribution of the paper versions of her international certificate of vaccination prophylaxis, and also developing a digital wallet that could be used for the same purpose.” The organization, he said, will provide more “detailed data standards” for individual countries “to generate their own digital vaccination certificate, but that does not get around the policy issues around which vaccines are recognized within

DOJ Retracts Claim It Seized “Fully Constructed” Lego Set From Accused Capitol Rioter Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times, The Department of Justice has retracted its claim that it seized a “fully constructed U.S. Capitol Lego set” from an accused Capitol rioter. A U.S. Capitol Lego set seized by FBI agents from Robert Morss, an accused U.S. Capitol rioter. (DOJ) In an memorandum asking a court to order Robert Morss be held pending trial, prosecutors claimed that law enforcement officials “recover[e]d a fully constructed U.S. Capitol Lego set” while arresting the defendant. But in a supplemental motion, authorities said they erred in conveying that claim. “Please note that after a review of the photographs from the search, there appears to have been a miscommunication and that statement appears to be inaccurate. The Lego set was in a box and not fully constructed at the time of the search, as pictured below,” they wrote. So the fully constructed Lego set was a lie? pic.twitter.com/hbERXxsPcu — THOR the Deplorable 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@ThorDeplorable) July 12, 2021 A lawyer representing Morss did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ESG Case For Crypto Authored by Omid Malekan via Medium.com, (emphasis ours) First, let’s state the obvious: Bitcoin mining uses a lot of electricity, so it’s bad for the environment. Anyone who claims otherwise is either a salesperson or a fool. Arguing that mining is good for the environment because it encourages investment in renewables is like arguing that smoking saves lives by driving cancer research. All of the energy comparisons to the traditional banking system are also foolish. There are various nuances to this debate, but none change the fact that Bitcoin has a significant carbon footprint. But so do a lot of things. Tellingly, none are as controversial. What’s the carbon footprint of people cranking the AC, ordering takeout and watching Netflix? Significant, but seldom debated. Every kind of human activity impacts the environment, and plenty of mundane activities use “more power than some countries” when measured in aggregate. Deciding which ones are worthwhile requires an objective cost-benefit analysis and comparison to similar activities. Bitcoin mining is rather unique, but for the sake of argument, let’s compare it to the US military. Like Bitcoin,

Futures Back At All Time Highs Ahead Of FOMC Minutes One day after the S&P broke its near-record winning streak of 7 consecutive all time highs, futures resumed their grind higher as world stocks steadied below recent record peaks, while the Nasdaq jumped to a fresh all time high as the continued drop in Treasury yields supported tech-heavy growth stocks, with investors eyeing today’s June FOMC minutes for clues on policy support going forward. At 730 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 21 points, or 0.06%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 8.25 points, or 0.19%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 89.25 points, or 0.59%. 10Y yields slipped for the seventh straight session, amid concerns about the economic outlook and coronavirus variants, helping Nasdaq futures rise premarket. In per-market trading, oil giants Exxon, Schlumberger, ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil, Occidental and Halliburton Co rose between 0.7% and 3.4%, tracking crude prices, which rebounded after Tuesday’s rout. China’s market regulator said it has fined a number of internet companies including Didi Global, Tencent and Alibaba for failing to report earlier merger and acquisition deals for approval. As

Ever Given Container Ship Set Free After Owners Pay Fines The 1300-foot Ever Given container ship is currently underway, traversing the northern section of the Suez Canal, after spending months in the Great Bitter Lake as owners and insurers and Suez Canal Authority (SCA) officials hammered out a compensation deal for the vessel’s canal disruption in late March.  We reported Tuesday that owners and insurers and SCA authorities reached a deal after last month’s “agreement in principle” following the container ship’s six-day blockage of the canal. WSJ reports the agreement was signed at SCA’s headquarters in Ismailia early Wednesday, allowing the vessel to continue its journey.  ISMAILIA, Egypt, July 7 (Reuters) – The Ever Given, one of the world’s largest container ships,resumed its journey to leave the Suez Canal on Wednesday, 106 days after becoming wedged across a southern section of the waterway for nearly a week and disrupting global trade. pic.twitter.com/gaibjD5Cu5 — handsm (@handsm54350947) July 7, 2021 The Ever Given container ship that hit international headlines for blocking the Suez Canal, has been released as the conflict provoked by the incident was finally resolved, Sputnik correspondent reports #EverGiven #Suez pic.twitter.com/14J7ncONIT — Sputnik Insight (@Sputnik_Insight) July 7, 2021 Refinitiv marine traffic

Haitian President Jovenel Moise Assassinated By Unknown Attackers Haitian President Jovenel Moise was shot dead by unidentified attackers in his private residence overnight in a “barbaric act” shortly after midnight on Wednesday morning the government said, stirring fears of escalating turmoil in the impoverished Caribbean nation. The 53-year-old president’s wife, Martine Moise, was also shot in the attack that took place around 1 a.m. local time and was receiving medical treatment, Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph said in a statement. “A group of unidentified individuals, some of them speaking Spanish, attacked the private residence of the president of the republic and thus fatally wounded the head of state,” he said. Haitian President Jovenel Moise has been assassinated at home, according to the country’s interim prime minister. Get more on this story: https://t.co/KczwOrKjVm pic.twitter.com/4xMBNnEk2h — Sky News (@SkyNews) July 7, 2021 The assassination coincided with a wave of gang violence in Port-au-Prince as armed groups have battled with police and one another for control of the streets in

UK Communist Party Lockdown Zealot Freaks Out When Asked About Her Beliefs Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News, A behavioral scientist who wants mask mandates to continue forever freaked out and refused to answer the question when asked if her lifetime membership of the Communist Party informed her beliefs. Susan Michie, who is advising the UK government as part of the SAGE scientific dictatorship which has had the country locked down for the best part of 15 months, was finally confronted during a segment on Good Morning Britain. When she was previously asked for how much longer social distancing, mask mandates and lockdowns should continue, Michie said “forever.” Despite Michie making innumerable appearances on television, not one single interviewer asked her about being a Communist until GMB host Richard Madeley broke the ice yesterday morning. Susan Michie expresses outrage when asked if her 40-year membership in the Communist Party might inform her policies. Apparently it’s ok to be a communist, but not to ask if this might be connected to her open endorsement of communist China’s policies.pic.twitter.com/xhkl6Es9Tr — Michael P Senger (@MichaelPSenger) July

Russia’s $190 Billion Sovereign Wealth Fund Is Nearly Done Dumping Dollars Just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin laid out a new national security strategy (seemingly timed to coincide with the US Independence Day Holiday to underscore the general theme) where he elaborated on how Washington uses the dollar as a tool to wage economic warfare against its geopolitical adversaries, Russia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, a nearly $190 billion pool of capital derived from the country’s vast oil and mineral wealth, has taken a critical step toward dumping all its assets. RUSSIAN FINANCE MINISTRY SAYS IT HAS COMPLETED FX CONVERSION NEEDED TO SCRAP U.S. DOLLAR FROM THE NATIONAL WEALTH FUND The news isn’t exactly a surprise. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov announced plans to dump all dollar-denominated assets from the fund’s portfolio a month ago. Still, while it’s unclear how much of the dumping has already been completed, the alacrity with which the massive fund is moving ahead with its plans (trading tens of billions of dollars in FX is a laborious practice and can take time) shows that this wasn’t an empty threat.  News that the fund has finished this critical step toward rebalancing its portfolio also coincides with Tuesday’s

Military Members Say They’ll “Quit” If Army Mandates COVID-19 Vaccine: Congressman Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said he was informed by some members of the U.S. military that they would quit if the armed forces mandated a COVID-19 vaccine, coming after a report claimed that Army headquarters told commanders to prepare for mandatory vaccinations in September. “I’ve been contacted by members of our voluntary military who say they will quit if the COVID vaccine is mandated. I introduced HR 3860 to prohibit any mandatory requirement that a member of the Armed Forces receive a vaccination against COVID-19. It now has 24 sponsors,” Massie wrote on Twitter. He didn’t provide more details. It isn’t clear how the service members could quit or how many would try to do so. Once a member reports to their first duty station, they are obligated to stay within the service of the armed forces. If a service member leaves without approval, they can be declared AWOL, or absent without leave. The Republican lawmaker was referring to a report published by the Army Times over the weekend

AMC Shares Rally As CEO Abandons Proposal To Issue 25 Million More Shares AMC CEO Adam Aron on Monday decided to pull a proposal to lift the cap on the number of shares that AMC is allowed to issue from the company’s upcoming annual shareholders meeting, pushing AMC shares more than 3% higher in premarket trading. The decision marks a reversal for AMC’s outspoken CEO Adam Aron, who has been pushing for shareholders to authorize issuance of up to another 25MM shares, which would allow the theater chain – which has already taken advantage of the run-up in its share price by issuing millions of new shares – to further capitalize on its lofty valuation. The company first disclosed the proposal, which was on the docket for its upcoming July 29 annual meeting, last month. In a series of tweets Aron said that while he still believes issuing more shares would be in the company’s best interest, enough AMC shareholders have expressed opposition to the proposal to make management have second thoughts. Because of this, the proposal has been “officially tabled”.

Tata Motors Plunges 10% As Jaguar Land Rover Warns Of ‘Greater’ Chip Shortages While there was hope the ongoing semiconductor pain would subside for the auto industry in the second half of the year, shares of Tata Motors, the parent of luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), crashed Tuesday after it warned: “shortages will continue through to the end of the year and beyond,” according to The Economic Times. Tata shares trading on the National Stock Exchange of India plunged 10% but recovered some losses and closed down 8.50%.   “The present semiconductor supply issues represent a significant near-term challenge for the industry which will take time to work through but we are encouraged by the strong demand we see for when supply recovers,” said Thierry Bollore, chief executive officer, JLR. “We are taking strong steps to ensure the security of our supply chain for the future, working with our suppliers and chip manufacturers directly to increase the visibility and control over the chip supply for our vehicles,” Bollore said. JLR expects the chip shortage to diminish in the second half of the year. “However, the

Futures On Edge At All Time High As Oil Surges To Highest Since 2014 Stock futures were steady, if drifting lower from overnight highs in muted trading as traders were watching whether Monday’s surge in oil which pushed WTI to the highest price since the November 2014 OPEC Thanksgiving massacre would depress stock sentiment after yesterday’s breakdown in OPEC+ talks. As of 730am, Emini S&P futures were down 2 points ot -0.05%, Dow jones futs were down 28 points ot -0.08% and Nasdaq minis were up 16.75 or +0.12%. Wall Street was facing a groggy restart after its July 4 holiday, with the S&P near-record streak of 7 consecutive all time highs looking shaky. Europe’s equity markets were spluttering at the prospect of higher inflation and China spooked its tech sector again with another high-profile clampdown. Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi plunged 22% in premarket trading after a Chinese regulator ordered the removal of its platform from app stores, days after its U.S. listing. Full Truck Alliance (YMM) and Kanzhun (BZ), which were also part of the crackdown, sinks 15% and 10% respectively Here are some of

Fed Chair Powell Met With Coinbase CEO Just Before Bitcoin’s Massive Plunge Earlier today we made the observation that after the brief post-FOMC freakout, stocks have risen for two weeks straight, making new all time highs virtually every day, and all that was necessary for this ramp higher was for Joe Biden to meet with Powell, Yellen and Gensler the morning of Monday, June 26. What happened next is familiar to all. But it’s not just stocks where one can find the impact of Powell’s not so invisible finger. According to the just released May calendar notes for the Fed chair, on Tuesday, May 11 at 11:15am, Powell met – in person and not by zoom as most of Powell’s other meetings – with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong (less than a month after the company went public on April 12, along with Republican Paul Ryan. This meeting was followed the very next day with former CFTC commissioner and current head of the Digital Dollar project, Chris Giancarlo. What

Daily Briefing: Equities Surge as U.S. Jobs Increase Beats Expectations Real Vision senior editor Ash Bennington welcomes editor Jack Farley and Mark Ritchie II, CIO at RTM Capital Advisors, to discuss the June jobs report and capital markets price action. The trio covers the strong increase in U.S. jobs and its effects on underlying markets. Bennington and Farley analyze the rise in both bonds and stocks as positive employment data boost investor confidence. Ritchie provides his insight into the equity markets and the potential rotation back into tech. Tyler Durden Fri, 07/02/2021 – 15:02

McDonald’s Plans To Cut Franchisees’ Tech Fees By 62% Following Uproar By Alicia Kelso of RestaurantDive, Summary: McDonald’s announced it is cutting the technology fees it planned to charge U.S. franchisees by 62%. This equates to about $42 million, from the $68 million communicated to the system in December. Bloomberg reports the change was made after a third-party review was conducted of the technology fees. The independent review was announced in February at the request of the National Franchisee Leadership Alliance, made up of McDonald’s operators, who contested they owed any tech-related debt. According to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg, the change was made to “reset” the relationship between corporate and franchisees. Tension between the two factions escalated after the fees were initially announced, leading to operators cutting off nonessential communication with corporate and pushing for the formation of a technology co-op to gain more control over spending decisions. The back-and-forth with franchisees persists for McDonald’s despite an otherwise strong performance for the chain during the pandemic for the chain as it saw 5.5% same-store sales growth in Q4, record-high revenues and more profitable restaurants.

Tesla’s Yoke-Style Steering Wheel Belongs On A Track, Not Neighborhood Street  Formula One fans have watched enough races and cockpit live feeds to notice F1 cars have yokes instead of steering wheels. Even when the race cars are zooming around hairpin turns, F1 drivers barely turn the wheel about one-third of a full rotation, nevertheless take their hands off the yoke. But for whatever reason, when Tesla refreshed the Model S, it decided to swap out traditional steering wheels for yoke-style steering, which has been a nightmare for some driving on conventional roads.  There’s been a fierce debate on social media on whether the yoke is safe for public roads, while Tesla fanboys are defending using the race car steering wheel that is meant for the track.  In the video below, a Tesla owner must make multiple rotations on the steering wheel to complete a normal turn.  “Don’t judge the yoke and the lack of shifters until you try it,” they said. pic.twitter.com/bG0lCbJr5f — Quinn Nelson (@SnazzyQ) June 26, 2021 Here another video of a Tesla driver using the yoke that makes driving so much harder. Notice how many rotations the driver has to make for a traditional turn

Blankfein, Cohn To Face Shareholder Lawsuit Over Massive 1MDB Corruption For a while, it looked as if Lloyd Blankfein, Gary Cohn and other senior Goldman executives who were around when the firm first started doing business with 1MDB, the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund that was plundered by associates of former PM Najib Razak while also being utilized as a political slush fund (the money was supposed to be used on public works projects in poor Malaysia). Although Blankfein and others were forced to return some of their bonus pay, Gary Cohn – who left the bank to serve as Trump’s top economic advisor for a brief time before being unceremoniously ousted from the West Wing – appeared to have successfully snubbed the bank’s claw-back attempts, refusing to turn over $10MM that the bank demanded. But while Blankfein and others have escaped criminal liability, it looks like they won’t be so lucky on the civil front. Blankfein and Cohn must face a shareholder lawsuit over the 1MDB global bribery scandal, a judge ruled yesterday. US District Judge Vernon Broderick denied requests from Goldman, Blankfein and Cohn to dismiss a shareholder lawsuit led by Swedish pension fund Sjunde AP-Fonden. However the

When Expedient “Saves” Become Permanent, Ruin Is Assured Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, The Fed’s “choice” is as illusory as the “wealth” the Fed has created with its perfection of moral hazard. The belief that the Federal Reserve possesses god-like powers and wisdom would be comical if it wasn’t so deeply tragic, for the Fed doesn’t even have a plan, much less wisdom. All the Fed has is an incoherent jumble of expedient, panic-driven “saves” it cobbled together in the 2008-2009 Global Financial Meltdown that it had made inevitable. The irony is the only thing that will still be rich when the whole rotten, corrupt, fragile financial system of illusory stability collapses in a heap of runaway instability. The irony is that the Fed’s leaky grab-bag of expedient “saves” was not designed to ensure systemic stability, though that was the PR cover story. The Fed’s leaky grab-bag of expedient “saves” had only one purpose: save the fat-cats, skimmers, scammers, fraudsters and embezzlers who had gotten rich off the Fed’s cloaked transfer of wealth: the purpose of all the 2008-2009 extremes was not to impose the discipline required to truly stabilize the financial system; the purpose was to elevate moral hazard– the

14 Astonishing Facts About The Blistering Heatwave That Is Absolutely Frying The Northwest Right Now Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com, What we are witnessing right now is not even close to “normal”.  I know that I have been making a lot of statements like that lately, but it is undeniable that some very strange things are happening.  For example, over the past couple of years I have been consistently warning that global weather patterns were starting to go completely nuts, and at first there were some people that didn’t believe me.  But now nobody can deny that global weather patterns have become really, really weird. At this moment, the Northwest is being slammed by a “heat dome” that is absolutely unprecedented.  In the past, there have been times when the weather has gotten really hot and a city or two may set a new high temperature record for a particular date, but this week we are seeing city after city shatter their all-time records for hottest temperature ever recorded on any date.  We have never seen anything like this before, and hopefully this does