During his press conference from Saudi Arabia, the installed occupant of the White House was asked about the possibility that congress will not pass the $500 billion spending proposal to continue the radical transformation of the American energy sector. [Transcript]

Q On the issue of climate, Joe Manchin obviously made significant news right now, which appears to be torpedoing what was one of your biggest priorities as it relates to energy and to climate back at home. Your message to those Americans right now who are looking for that relief that would have a wide impact as it affects the climate and energy specifically?

Joe Biden: “I am not going away. I’m going to use every power I have as President to continue to fulfill my pledge to move toward dealing with global warming.”  Thank you very much.” [link]

Put another way, “you will eventually eat the bugs.”

As previously noted, regardless of how much chaos, crisis and hardship they create, the collective western government leaders are not going to stop pushing their Build Back Better climate change agenda.  These are committed ideologues.  They are united in their objective and not a single politician is willing to see the catastrophic damage they are creating.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a cabinet ideologue with zero experience in business or transportation, appears in the news admitted the high price of gasoline is part of the Biden energy agenda to push people into purchasing electric vehicles.  You’ll have a higher car payment, but you won’t pay for gasoline.  WATCH:

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After calling Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (aka MbS) a “pariah” for killing CIA operative Jamal Khashoggi, a Qatar-based Brotherhood member who was working under the CIA cover of a Washington Post press credential, Joe Biden now greets MbS in Saudi Arabia with a fist-bump.  WATCH: 

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This shouldn’t come as a surprise.  Most banks and financial institutions are being very careful right now as they prepare for the consequences of consumers running out of money.  All banks are securing reserve accounts in anticipation of defaults increasing.

July 15 (Reuters) – Wells Fargo & Co said on Friday its second-quarter profit nearly halved as the bank set aside more funds to cover potential loan losses, while its mortgage lending business came under pressure from higher interest rates.

The fourth-largest U.S. bank reported profit of $3.1 billion, or 74 cents per share, compared with $6 billion, or $1.38 per share, a year earlier. Its total loan loss provisions were $580 million in the quarter, including a $235 million increase due to loan growth.

Under an accounting standard that took effect in 2020, banks must factor the economic outlook into loan loss reserves. Last year, the bank had released $1.6 billion from its reserves for loan losses as the economy rebounded from the pandemic.

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Joe Manchin didn’t completely torpedo the $500 billion in Green New Deal climate change spending, but he did stall it for a month saying he would not support the climate change spending until he sees July’s inflation numbers in August, which should be a warning.

If you think carefully about it, it’s a classic Manchin head-fake.  The July and August inflation numbers, to be released in August and September respectively, are almost guaranteed to be lower than June.

July/Aug are the two months we are in right now where inflation is hitting a plateau.  Gasoline prices are dropping due to a drop in demand. This is the period before prices start rising again in September and October when the energy farming costs start to roll out with the next harvest.

Senator Manchin isn’t stupid; in fact, he is quite Machiavellian, he knows this… thus, his position.

Manchin can give the illusion of prudence, but he knows the July inflation rate will show a decrease for two reasons.

First, in the month-to-month comparison, July will not carry the same scale of gasoline and energy increases as June.  Second, in the year-over-year comparison, July ’22 will be comparing to July 2021 when prices already started skyrocketing.  Bottom line, July inflation will give the illusion of dropping, which gives Manchin a shield to support the spending…. and he will.

WASHINGTON DC – Joe Manchin is forcing Democrats into a brutal choice: Take a deal now to lower the costs of health care premiums and prescription drugs, or try to negotiate a larger bill in September that includes climate and tax reform with no guarantee it will pass.

The West Virginia Democrat said Friday that he wants to see another month of inflation numbers before considering legislation that might increase taxes on some higher-income Americans and plow hundreds of billions of dollars into the energy sector. On Thursday Manchin “unequivocally” rejected July or August approval of Democrats’ proposed energy investments and tax increases in a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, according to a person briefed on the meeting.

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the JoeBama Administration and Presidency.

“This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it can’t be done? And if we do not try, it most certainly won’t be done. The Founders’ Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost.”

“But I tell you this: We will not go gently into that bloody collectivist good night. Indeed, we will make with our defiance such a sound as ALL history from that day forward will be forced to note, even if they despise us in the writing of it.”

~ Mike Vanderboegh

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the JoeBama Administration and Presidency.

“This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it can’t be done? And if we do not try, it most certainly won’t be done. The Founders’ Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost.”

“But I tell you this: We will not go gently into that bloody collectivist good night. Indeed, we will make with our defiance such a sound as ALL history from that day forward will be forced to note, even if they despise us in the writing of it.”

~ Mike Vanderboegh

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

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Officials in the state of Texas are worried the emergency measures taken Wednesday to avoid blackouts may not be enough.  The utility operators urgently need the wind to start operating the windmills or things might get worse.  Reuters News has more:

(Reuters) – Texas’s power grid operator on Wednesday took emergency measures to avoid rolling blackouts as soaring electricity demand threatened to outpace available supplies amid a stifling heatwave.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates the grid that serves more than 26 million customers, initiated a rarely used emergency program that is triggered when supplies fall below a critical safety margin.

Earlier, ERCOT had urged residents to cut power use during the hottest hours of the day and warned of a risk for rolling blackouts. Residents were asked to turn up thermostats, defer the use of high-power appliances and turn off swimming pool pumps.

The emergency notice came after ERCOT began paying suppliers an average of $5,000 per magawatt hour to keep generators running. That price is the highest the grid operator pays.  “They were pulling a lot of levers to avoid going into emergency operations and rolling blackouts,” said Doug Lewin, president of consultants Stoic Energy LLC. (read more)

Call me Captain Obvious, but in addition to the population migration, it looks like Texas imported California’s energy policies.  The sustainable energy isn’t sustainable.  However, on a positive note, their state ESG score is improving.

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