Put this in the ‘beyond ridiculous’ file that explains the current situation of a contracting European economy; specifically, in the auto sector.

Europe has fines associated with the production of gasoline powered engines if the auto company doesn’t hit targets for sales of electric vehicles.  The fines triggered this year.  In order to avoid paying the European fines the auto makers are forming alliances with Chinese EV makers to purchase carbon credit offsets.

In essence, EU car companies buy Chinese car company carbon credits, to avoid the EU fines.  The Chinese car companies can then use the carbon credit revenue to subsidize lower priced Chinese EVs to the European car market, thereby undercutting the European EV car companies.  BRILLIANT!

MILAN, Oct 21 (Reuters) – Automakers have formed alliances to help them avoid hefty European Union fines on carbon emissions by purchasing credits from electric vehicle companies. Several legacy automakers face potential fines as the transition to EVs in Europe has proved slower than expected in recent years.

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Underpinning the contracting EU economy are two major forces.  First, the instability of their financial markets, thanks in majority to their catastrophic Build Back Better energy agenda.  Secondly, China exploiting the economic vulnerability and dumping massive amounts of cheap goods onto their consumer market.  Both forces are working against the EU economy.

To backstop the collapse, the EU is counting on expanded militaristic spending to get them out of their dead-end path.  Again, in majority, the economics of the thing is why they want expanded war with Russia – regardless of the detrimental outcome.  Without war they have to give up their Build Back Better green energy program.

In this interview, EU Central Bank President Christine Lagarde obfuscates both issues and points a finger at President Trump’s geopolitical economic and trade reset.  The only thing she accurately presents is the scale of the issue, the “trillions at stake” part.  WATCH (Transcript Below):

[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re joined now by the President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde. The ECB sets interest rates for many countries in the European Union, which is America’s largest trading partner. Good to have you here.

CHRISTINE LAGARDE: Lovely to be back, Margaret.

MARGARET BRENNAN: From where you sit, how would you describe the state of the global economy?

CHRISTINE LAGARDE: In transformation.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Transformation.

CHRISTINE LAGARDE: Transformation, I think caused by a couple of things. One is the tariffs, which have changed the map of trade around the world and reconstituted new alliances and reformed the way in which we trade with each other. I think the second major transformation is the impact of artificial intelligence on everything we do from data management to dating and everything in between.

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At a certain point facilitating an extension to conflict becomes an enabling of killing. It appears that President Trump has reached the end of his support for delivering mechanisms of war.

Writing on Truth Social, President Trump notes:

According to media reports, President Trump has decided not to sell Tomahawk missiles to NATO for transfer to Ukraine.  Nothing good can come from putting more offensive weapons into the conflict other than more bloodshed.

The expressed position of the White House is to freeze the Ukraine war at current “property lines” of control, and enter negotiations to stop fighting.  Toward that end, it appears President Trump is no longer willing to facilitate expanded conflict.

This position comes after an extended two-hour conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and also a meeting on Friday with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

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Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, travels to the White House to meet with President Trump after Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent organized a $20 Billion currency swap to help underwrite the Argentinian currency.

The currency swap is a major financial lifeline to the South American nation. As Milei arrived at the White House, President Trump was asked if he had a message for the Argentine people, responding: “We love them. We’ll be here for them. They have a great leader.”

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New York Attorney General Letitia James has been indicted by a Virginia grand jury on a federal charge of bank fraud. [INDICTMENT HERE]

WASHINGTON — New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat who has clashed with President Donald Trump, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in Virginia, three sources familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News.

James was charged with one count of bank fraud after Trump publicly called for his Justice Department appointees to bring charges against her.  The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Jamar K. Walker, a Biden appointee. (more)

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The heart of the European industrial economy is Germany, and there’s major trouble afoot within the largest industrial sector within Germany.

Following the “Build Back Better” agenda, the EU went all in for green energy proposals.  EU banking and finance followed suit, funding investment capital for electric vehicles (EVs) to replace combustion engines.  Unfortunately, this put the EU, specifically Germany, in the position of competing against the largest EV industrial base in the world, China.

The second major flaw was capital only flowing to the EV sector, and Europeans -along with the majority of the industrial west- are just not buying EVs at a production capacity to match prior investment.

Put it all together and Germany is trying to compete with China to produce a product their consumer base doesn’t want.

GERMANY – ZF Friedrichshafen’s announcement that it is cutting 7,600 positions adds to the German supplier industry’s troubles as parts makers struggle to manage the shift to EVs, along with falling demand for combustion engine components and increased competition from Chinese suppliers.

Including job losses at Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche, the German auto industry is expected to eliminate nearly 100,000 jobs by 2030, according to an analysis by Bloomberg.

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appears on CNBC to discuss the second full day of the government shutdown and the potential ramifications therein.

Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought is meeting with President Trump today to discuss the facets of the government that will be closed and for the duration therein.  Secretary Bessent is asked if the furloughs will be a long-term feature of the backfire created by the Democrat strategy.

Bessent reemphasizes he personally joined the Trump administration to shrink the scale of government spending, and the administration is not going to flinch on any CR agreement that backtracks on existing spending reductions.  WATCH:

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It is not hyperbole to think the Moldovan election today may possibly determine whether a NATO war with Russia takes place, or whether the NATO desire for conflict slowly begins to dissolve. {GO DEEP}

The small country squeezed between Romania (the largest NATO super-base constructed) and Ukraine, is located in a critical area. Whether Moldova joins the EU, or whether Moldova remains independently free from Brussels influence, is part of the outcome. The Moldova Parliamentary Elections are today.

The EU/NATO are at a zero-sum inflection point. THIS is the tinderbox.

There are roughly 2.5 million registered Moldovan voters living in Moldova. However, the govt of President Maia Sandu and her EU control agents expect 500,000+ votes from outside Moldova to determine the election outcome.

Of the 3,000 poll watchers, 900 members of the international coalition to influence critical elections (aka western intelligence operatives) are currently active in Moldova providing real-time voter feedback.

The non-pretenders will note the intelligence these operatives return helps western IC determine how many mail-in ballots are needed for EU/NATO success to support President Sandu.

There are 300 polling stations opened across 41 countries. Britain hosts 24 stations, Germany 36, Italy 75, and Russia has two.

Voting in Moldova ends at 21:00 local (9pm)/15:00 ET, but mail in ballots will continue flowing. The first preliminary results should become known around 23:00 (11pm local). [5pm Eastern US.]

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When it comes to presidential candidates, it’s worth remembering: The Kentucky Derby is won by horses, but it’s the owners who get the prize money.

In my opinion, Larry Ellison (Oracle) is the most strategic billionaire influencer, a long-term thinker, in the modern era.  Larry Ellison is about to take control of TikTok, while his son David Ellison gains CBS and will likely move Bari Weiss into content control. Next up, CNN.  Funnily enough, while Elon was the shiny thing, Larry smiled. Keep watching.

The framework of the U.S. TikTok deal is becoming clear. The New York Times has the best write up.

(NEW YORK TIMES) – The software giant Oracle will oversee the security of Americans’ data and monitor changes and updates to TikTok’s powerful recommendation technology under a new deal to avert a ban of the service, according to a senior White House official.

A copy of the algorithm, the recommendation engine that powers the app’s addictive feed of short videos, will be licensed from China to an American investor group that will oversee the app in the United States, the official said.

Oracle will also invest in the new American TikTok, as will the private equity firm Silver Lake, another senior official said.

It will be “secured” in the United States outside the control of TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, one of the officials said. The U.S.-run TikTok will work to retrain the copy on users’ data in the United States, and China will not have access to the data, the officials added.

The deal is an effort to meet the requirements of a law that would have banned TikTok in the United States unless ByteDance relinquished control of the app. It was intended to address national security concerns that the app’s ownership could give Beijing a channel to spread propaganda or to collect sensitive data about Americans.

[…] Under the terms of the deal, American companies will own around 80 percent of the American version of the app. ByteDance and other Chinese investors will own less than 20 percent.

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U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer has filed a motion with the Supreme Court [SEE HERE] requesting intervention in a lower court ruling that blocks President Trump from firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.

As noted in the filing, “As her removal notice observed, before taking office, Cook had made contradictory representations in two mortgage agreements a short time apart, claiming that both a property in Michigan and a property in Georgia would simultaneously serve as her principal residence. Each mortgage agreement described the representation as material to the lender, reflecting the reality that lenders usually offer lower interest rates for principal-residence mortgages because they view such mortgages as less risky. When her apparent misconduct came to light, the President determined that Cook’s “deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter” renders her unfit to continue serving on the Federal Reserve Board, and at a minimum demonstrates “the sort of gross negligence in financial transactions that calls into question[her] competence and trustworthiness as a financial regulator.” App., infra, 29a. To this day, Cook has never attempted to reconcile these representations.” (READ MORE)

“The Federal Reserve Act’s broad ‘for cause’ provision rules out removal for no reason at all, or for policy disagreement,” Sauer wrote. “But so long as the President identifies a cause, the determination … is within the President’s unreviewable discretion.”

“The President may reasonably determine that interest rates paid by the American people should not be set by a Governor who appears to have lied about facts material to the interest rates she secured for herself — and refuses to explain the apparent misrepresentations,” Sauer wrote.

Cook maintains she dindunuffin.

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