Earlier today, Joe Biden met with a roundtable group of retail executives and CEO’s.  The topics of the discussion were supply chain issues and current impacts to businesses that are causing rapid inflation.

At the conclusion of the meeting there was supposed to be a press conference where Biden was going to outline what his administration is doing to combat the ever-increasing problem of inflation.   However, moments before the public remarks were scheduled to begin, the White House cancelled them.  Instead, the people managing Joe Biden sent out the following tweet:

According to the White House messaging, everything is wonderful – there is no cause for concern, the supply chain crisis has been handled, shortages are no longer present, shelves are full, the clouds have parted and Santa is enjoying his time preparing for Christmas by watching unicorns play with the reindeer.  Baghdad Bob would be proud.

If the narrative is true, if there is so much good news to share, then why cancel the remarks and press conference about inflation?

One likely scenario is the retail CEO’s told the White House about: (1) upcoming additional price increases due to energy policy; and (2) the latest news from China where the shipment of goods is going to go from bad (slow) to much worse (a virtual halt):

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis responded to the remarks from Dr. Anthony Fauci yesterday and from Joe Biden earlier today about the new Omicron variant of COVID and the possibility of lockdowns.

The Governor was very specific and clear about no lockdowns when he spoke today at an event to celebrate increased salaries and bonuses for law enforcement officers in the state.  Florida will continue to emphasize prevention, optional vaccinations, therapeutics and quick responsive treatment – with accessible monoclonal antibody treatments – as the state COVID mitigation protocol.  WATCH:

So far, the approach by Florida Governor DeSantis has been effective as the state now holds one of the lowest COVID infection rates in the nation, yet the state is wide open and free from any mandates or restrictions.  If people want to live in fear, they can go live somewhere else.

The full press conference is below:

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There has always been strong cynicism amid those who accept the intellectual argument that everything around COVID-19 is political.  From that viewpoint, the federal vaccine mandate was always just a Biden talking point, a way to weaponize a fear they created and create controlled division.  A memorandum circulating today lends evidence to that perspective.

WASHINGTON DC – The White House’s Office of Management and Budget is telling federal agencies they should hold off on suspending or firing federal workers for not complying with the vaccine mandate until after the holidays, according to a memo obtained by ABC News.

This change, which has not yet been publicly announced, comes as President Joe Biden is putting pressure on private employers to embrace their own vaccine mandates.

Ninety-two percent of federal workers have already had at least one vaccine dose, according to the Office of Management and Budget. The federal workforce’s compliance rate stands at 96.5%, meaning employees have had at least one vaccine dose or have a pending or approved exception or extension request. (link)

If the latest Omicron variant was factually all that Biden is claiming it to be, this contradiction would not be evident – but it is.  However, the exponentially and rapidly climbing list of contradictions and hypocrisies from officials, institutions and agencies can all be reconciled with one simple acceptance: It’s all political. All of it. Every element, no matter how granular or big picture, is all political.

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FULL Analysis Below Video:

Allianz Group chief economic advisor, Mohamed El-Erian, is one of the few financial pundits who understood President Trump’s purposeful economic agenda inside the America First policy {Go Deep and Go Deep}.  However, El-Erian also has to maintain his Wall Street credibility and, like most financial pundits, has to pretend not to know things when the emperor’s new clothes -Biden economics- are being discussed.

El-Erian uses the lingo of the club as he walks carefully in the shadow of his Wall Street allies, and he has to avoid the 800lb gorilla in the room and ignore there are other newly surfacing mechanisms available to the government in their approach to inflation.  In this interview El-Erian does emphasize that inflation is not transitory, it is only going to get worse as long as the Federal Reserve keeps printing money to keep up with the massive and ongoing Democrat spending programs.

When El-Erian says the Fed needs to take their foot off the accelerator, he’s talking about how the Fed policy right now is purchasing debt (Quantative Easing) and printing money to keep up with legislative spending programs.  He knows the Biden administration will not stop this approach, they are committed to the Build Back Better program, and as a consequence El-Erian knows inflation will continue in direct proportion to that ‘demand side‘ activity.  But he cannot call it out directly – he can only say inflation will continue.

All of the Wall Street pundits know the Fed cannot hit the brakes (raise interest rates and stop purchasing debt) or else this entire manipulated economy (even on a global scale) will collapse; as El-Erian says “plunge into a recession.”  It is a tenuous house of cards the current Wall Street crew is betting to remain in place due to the ideological politics (Green New Deal, Build Back Better, etc ).

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The Times of India, a media outlet previously very skeptical of Big Pharma, is reporting from the South African Medical Association that officials are puzzled about the hype around Omicron.

The variant has only produced mild symptoms in regional patients with very little impact.

JOHANNESBURG: “The new Omicron variant of the coronavirus results in mild disease, without prominent syndromes, Angelique Coetzee, the Chairwomman of the South African Medial Association told sputnik news on Saturday.” … “We will only know this after two weeks. Yes, it is transmissible, but for now, as medical practitioners, we do not know why so much hype is being driven as we are still looking into it.” (read more)

Occam’s Razor – The new variant is being hyped because international governments need it to be hyped.  The biggest threat to politicians and the global financial system attempting to Build Back Better via enlarged government spending, is not COVID; the biggest threat is anger from the citizenry over the inflation the government spending and buying of debt is creating.

What is the quickest way to eliminate the political risks due to inflation? Shut down demand.  Lock down economies, turn the valves closed on economic demand and then watch price increases slow down.

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When you are at war, you target the enemy supply lines.  A cunning move by the smart Panda targets Joe Biden’s domestic inflation vulnerability.

Beijing can see Joe Biden under internal political attack caused by massive domestic inflation.  China also knows Biden is weak strategically, handcuffed by the leftist demand for climate change / energy policy, and Beijing can see the administration trying to deflect from the consequences of their economic and energy policy.

After the U.S-China summit, used by cunning panda to size up the potential for backlash, anything China can do to further gain dominant position is now just a matter of easy chess moves on the board of dependency.

Business Insider – China’s strict COVID-19 quarantines are making it difficult for ships to change crews, contributing to lags in the shipping process that could worsen the supply chain crisis.

The country has a zero-Covid policy and is imposing ever more stringent containment measures as it tackles its latest wave of outbreaks. On Halloween night, for example, 30,000 people were locked inside Shanghai Disneyland after just one COVID-19 case was detected. And in the northern city of Shenyang, arriving overseas travelers face a 56-day quarantine.

Now, the export hub is imposing mandatory quarantines of up to seven weeks — around 49 days — for Chinese seafarers returning from overseas, Bloomberg reported. These take place in designated facilities and are typically paid for by the employers, according to information posted on various China shipping websites.

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President Donald Trump called in to Fox Business yesterday [LINK] for an extensive interview about the current state of the U.S. economy, gas prices, energy policy and the Biden administration’s COVID response.

President Trump told FOX Business’s “Varney & Co.” he had hoped President Biden would do well in managing the coronavirus, but pointed out that “significantly” more Americans have died from the virus under Biden’s watch than his own “despite all of the vaccines and the therapeutics” that are now widely available. Trump emphasized his position on the vaccine, “I want people to go out and want to get [vaccinated], but I don’t want to force it into them.”  WATCH:

Watch the latest video at foxbusiness.com

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Wow, 72 hours ago no one even heard the name Omicron variant.  Now, in less than three days, a variant has been identified, global travel has been halted, states of emergency have been declared, and now we see a pharmaceutical company announcing the variant specific vaccine trial that will begin in the U.S. in a few weeks.  This government relationship with Big Pharma is certainly generating some fast action, eh?

If a person was cynically inclined; while knowing governments’ need to control inflation yet cannot raise interest rates or stop purchasing debt because current legislative spending continues – a remarkable control option would be to halt demand; and a person might think this was suspicious, or something.

Nov 26 (Reuters) – Novavax Inc said on Friday it had started working on a version of its COVID-19 vaccine to target the variant detected in South Africa and would have the shot ready for testing and manufacturing in the next few weeks.

The company’s COVID-19 shot contains an actual version of the virus’ spike protein that cannot cause disease but can trigger the immune system. The vaccine developer said it had started developing a spike protein specifically based on the known genetic sequence of the variant, B.1.1.529.

Novavax’s vaccine received its first emergency use approval earlier this month in Indonesia followed by the Philippines. Other vaccine developers, including Germany’s BioNTech SE and Johnson & Johnson, have said they are testing the effectiveness of their shots against the new variant, which is named Omicron by the World Health Organization (read more)

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We originally outlined the new COVID-19 variant along with the international motives of the science community for delivering it HERE.  Previously the new worrisome, 10 spike, vaccine resistant variant was called “The B.1.1.529 variant“.  However, those types of names do not work well for larger fear narrative distribution.  As a result, the international scientific community has given it the name “Omicron“.  Perhaps the “Merry Christmas” variant would be culturally insensitive.

Globally, and not coincidentally –politically– the greatest challenge to those in power is a massive rise in direct inflation.  What is the quickest way to eliminate the political risks due to inflation?  Shut down demand….. lock down the economies… turn the values closed on economic activity, and then watch oil prices plummet.

As the science is told, Omicron originated in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi.  Government officials around the world have responded to the Omicron variant by banning travel from those countries.  The U.K and Australia kicked off the latest round of fear porn with their travel bans.  Subsequently, fellow EU nations Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Malta all announced imminent entry bans to all travelers who’ve entered South Africa and surrounding nations in the past two weeks.

In North America, Canada will be “banning the entry of foreign nationals…that have traveled through southern Africa in the last 14 days,” due to the new coronavirus variant Omicron, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said at a news conference Friday. (link)  And right on cue the Biden administration joins the effort:

WHITE HOUSE – “This morning I was briefed by my chief medical advisor, Dr. Tony Fauci, and the members of our COVID response team, about the Omicron variant, which is spreading through Southern Africa. As a precautionary measure until we have more information, I am ordering additional air travel restrictions from South Africa and seven other countries. These new restrictions will take effect on November 29. As we move forward, we will continue to be guided by what the science and my medical team advises.” (more)

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If the report from Axios is accurate, the nomination of communist Saule Omarova to Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is sunk.

However, this could also be viewed as an Overton window maneuver where the next radical nominated will be only slightly less communist, and thereby gain appointment.

AXIOS – […] In phone call on Wednesday, Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), all members of the Senate Banking Committee, told Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) — the panel’s chairman — of their opposition. They’re joined in opposing her by Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.). (more)

Senator Mark Warner’s opposition is a little unusual. Perhaps this is a downstream consequence of the recent Virginia election.  Regardless, at least this is one nomination that did not get through.   So far, Biden’s economic, energy and finance policies have been disastrous for Main Street; unfortunately, that also looks like a feature not a flaw.