It’s not just the scale of the increase that is surprising; it’s the history of how long it has been since this scale of debt increase happened in a single quarter.

(CNBC) – […] Although average hourly earnings are up 5.1% from a year ago, prices have been rising much faster. The Consumer Price Index, which measures the average change in prices for consumer goods and services, jumped a higher-than-expected 9.1% in June, the fastest pace in over four decades.

To bridge the gap, more consumers are relying on credit cards to get by, which has helped propel total credit card debt to $890 billion.

Overall, credit card balances rose 13% in the second quarter of 2022, notching the largest year-over-year increase in more than 20 years, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. (read more)

This doesn’t sound like a good economic omen.

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Democrat Senator Joe Manchin wears the purple tie today as he answers questions from the DC legislative narrative engineers.  There are two videos below.  The first is a general presser with multiple members of the DC media (print journos) about the Green New Deal energy bill he negotiated with Senator Chuck Schumer. The second video is an interview between Manchin and Fox News host Harris Faulkner.

Unfortunately, in both the presser and the direct interview no one pins Manchin down on where “expanded energy production” of the bill is located.  Manchin claims there is legislative language in the deal that supports the fast domestic production of oil, coal and natural gas to meet the immediate issue of skyrocketing energy prices.  However, Manchin is a smooth operator, and he states confidence that rapid and expanded development of oil, coal and gas is part of the deal.  WATCH:

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I was unaware that monkeypox was an issue for the White House. However, today the Biden administration is proud to present a team of government officials tasked for the purpose of handling the whole of government response to the U.S. outbreak of monkeypox.

Additionally, I’m not exactly sure what a “stakeholder in monkeypox” is, but this team is in charge of making sure they have “health equity.”

WHITE HOUSE – “Today, President Biden named FEMA’s Robert Fenton as the White House National Monkeypox Response Coordinator and Dr. Demetre Daskalakis as the White House National Monkeypox Response Deputy Coordinator. Fenton and Daskalakis will lead the Administration’s strategy and operations to combat the current monkeypox outbreak, including equitably increasing the availability of tests, vaccinations and treatments.

[…]  “Bob Fenton and Dr. Daskalakis are proven, effective leaders that will lead a whole of government effort to implement President Biden’s comprehensive monkeypox response strategy with the urgency that this outbreak warrants,” said Anthony Fauci, Chief Medical Advisor to the President. “From Bob’s work at FEMA leading COVID-19 mass vaccination efforts and getting vaccines to underserved communities to Demetre’s extensive experience and leadership on health equity and STD and HIV prevention, this team will allow the Biden Administration to further accelerate and strengthen its monkeypox response.”

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Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake discusses primary election day today in Arizona.  {Direct Rumble Link} Most polls show Trump endorsed Kari Lake with a significant lead over the establishment candidate Karrin Taylor Robson; however, the GOPe apparatus (including Brett Baier) has been promoting push-polls that show a much closer race.

Ms. Lake appears on Steve Bannon’s war room podcast to discuss.  WATCH:

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The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) produces a monthly report of available job openings.  The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS report) shows the number of available jobs at a captured moment in time.  This JOLTS report [DATA HERE] is a summary of the last day in June.

As you can see within modified Table-1, the number of available jobs dropped by 605,000 in this report.

Hires and separations were little changed, so too was the number of people who quit their jobs.  The big change in this JOLTS survey was the removal of available jobs.  Employers cancelling job openings.

BLS – “On the last business day of June, the number and rate of job openings decreased to 10.7 million (-605,000) and 6.6 percent, respectively. The largest decreases in job openings were in retail trade (-343,000), wholesale trade (-82,000), and in state and local government education (-62,000).”

If we monitor the JOLTS report as an indicator of employment strength reflecting the general pattern of consumers, we can see a pullback in both the goods and service sector.

Retail job openings dropping 343,000 as consumer spending tightens even more due to inflation, and now we see the service side with leisure and hospitality dropping 91,000 openings.

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There was a lot of back-and-forth hostility between the government of China and the administration of Joe Biden in advance of Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan.  Some Chinese state media even suggested a possibility that Pelosi’s plane could be shot down.  However, none of the threats materialized.

Yesterday it was obvious the White House was attempting to diffuse the aggressive grievances of Beijing when spokesperson John Kirby, technically the NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications, made a specific statement:

“The world has seen the United States government be very clear that nothing has changed — nothing has changed — about our One China policy, which is of course guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the Three Joint U.S.-PRC Communiqués, and the Six Assurances.  We have said — and we have repeatedly said — that we oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side.  We have said that we do not support Taiwan independence.  And we have said that we expect cross-Strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.”

Those six words, “we do not support Taiwan independence,” was a very deliberate and public assurance to China.  Essentially, the United States will not do anything to support the independence of Taiwan, do whatever you want.  Joe Biden took a knee to Chairman Xi.  As a result, Beijing dropped back their tone to traditional rhetoric saying in a statement Tuesday morning, the visit “seriously infringes upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

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Today is a very consequential primary election day for the states of Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington. There are high profile senate races in Arizona and Missouri, and an abortion ballot measure is going to be decided in Kansas.

Additionally, a key contest between the MAGA base and establishment republicans will be determined in the Arizona governor race between Trump endorsed Kari Lake and Pence endorsed Karrin Taylor Robson. All of the manipulative media has been working in that Arizona contest, including Fox News trying to tip the scales for the professional cocktail class of republicans.

As if all that wasn’t enough, three of the House DeceptiCons who voted to impeach President Trump are being confronted in Washington State and Michigan. Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler and Representative Dan Newhouse of Washington state along with Representative Peter Meijer in Michigan are facing strong primary challenges.

Kinzinger, Kato, Gonzalez and Upton all decided to quit their seats rather than face defeat.  Tom Rice tried to get reelected but was defeated in South Carolina by MAGA republican Russell Fry.  Today, Newhouse, Beutler and Meijer are facing the voters, and then next week Liz Cheney will be on the block.  Ms Cheney is desperately pleading with Democrats to switch parties in Wyoming and save her from republican voters.

President Trump endorsed Joe Kent to face Jamie Beutler (WA, CD-03). President Trump endorsed Loren Culp to challenge Dan Newhouse (WA, CD-04), and in Michigan, President Trump endorsed John Gibbs to squish wormy Pete Meijer (MI, CD-06).  It will be interesting to watch the results tonight.

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You will switch to bugs, and you will like it.  After using government incentives and subsidies to build a new facility in London, Ontario, to manufacturer 9,000 metric tons of crickets for human consumption to replace cows, pigs and chickens, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau now triggers a series of nitrogen emission reduction regulations to target traditional farming.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is following the same roadmap as his political friend in the Netherlands, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and the Canadian farmers are not happy about it.

CANADA – Saskatchewan and Alberta Ministers of Agriculture are expressing profound disappointment in the federal government’s fertilizer emissions reduction target.

“We’re really concerned with this arbitrary goal,” Saskatchewan Minister of Agriculture David Marit said. “The Trudeau government has apparently moved on from their attack on the oil and gas industry and set their sights on Saskatchewan farmers.”

“This has been the most expensive crop anyone has put in, following a very difficult year on the prairies,” Alberta Minister of Agriculture Nate Horner said. “The world is looking for Canada to increase production and be a solution to global food shortages. The Federal government needs to display that they understand this. They owe it to our producers.”

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World Health Organization Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declared a global health emergency for monkeypox today despite a majority of the assembled panel of experts voting 9-6 not to declare a global health emergency.

July 23 (Reuters) – The rapidly spreading monkeypox outbreak represents a global health emergency, the World Health Organization’s highest level of alert, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Saturday.

The WHO label – a “public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC)” – is designed to trigger a coordinated international response and could unlock funding to collaborate on sharing vaccines and treatments.

Members of an expert committee that met on Thursday to discuss the potential recommendation were split on the decision, with nine members against and six in favour of the declaration, prompting Tedros himself to break the deadlock, he told reporters.

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Let me say from the outset, with a degree of specific assurance we generally reserve for other matters, Russia had nothing to do with the targeting of a grain facility in the port city of Odesa.  Geopolitically and strategically, such an action would be against their interests.  These events have the smell of the U.S. State Dept and CIA all over them.

Start by first reviewing the agreement between Russia and Ukraine that was announced yesterday. July 22 (Reuters) – Russia and Ukraine signed a landmark deal on Friday to reopen Ukrainian Black Sea ports for grain exports, raising hopes that an international food crisis … can be eased.”   NATO country Turkey, specifically Recep Erdogan, brokered the deal between Russia and Ukraine.  Ignore the narrative engineering and WATCH:

Russia was particularly a geopolitical beneficiary from the agreement itself.  No longer could NATO and the western alliance blame Russia for the void in gobal food markets associated with the conflict in Ukraine.

From the perspective of Russian President Putin, the grain movement through the port city of Odesa was a net benefit.  “Russia has taken on the obligations that are clearly spelled out in this document. We will not take advantage of the fact that the ports will be cleared and opened. We have made this commitment,” said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

However, from the perspective of the Western alliance, the agreement mooted one of their biggest justifications for the upcoming global food shortage.   If Ukraine and Russia are exporting food, and yet food costs are still rising…. well, the food shortage impact from western energy disruption, the Build Back Better agenda, starts to become increasingly visible.

Suddenly, within hours of the trade agreement, the grain transportation system and the port city of Odesa come under fire from mysterious cruise missiles.

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