The European Union is hopping mad that Joe Biden was able to pass the “Green New Deal” (aka Inflation Reduction Act) and generate hundreds of billions in government subsidies for climate friendly initiatives.   Essentially, this is an economic war over who can do socialism better.

Fearing the EU may lose their green position, the European Union is now promising to fight back by spending even more, bigger, sums of taxpayer funds to subsidize their green ‘climate change’ energy economy.

If Biden plans to transfer hundreds of billions to corporations as structural enhancements for permanent energy changes, the EU will meet or beat that subsidy scheme. So sayeth, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

(Via Reuters) – The European Union responded on Tuesday to U.S. moves to boost its energy transition with its own plans to make life easier for green industry, saying it would mobilize state aid and a sovereignty fund to keep firms from moving to the United States.

European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen told the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos that the moves would be part of the EU’s Green Deal industrial plan to make Europe a centre for clean technology and innovation.

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There has always been a general shaping and interpretation surrounding economic news, specifically as it relates to the impact of pricing on consumers and corporations. However, against the backdrop of supply side inflation, the financial gaslighting from the Wall Street Journal stands out at the top.

Without pretending, and looking directly at the Main Street reality, CTH has outlined inflation as a matter of monetary and energy policy.  From that standpoint the timing and scale of price increases (inflation measured over time) was predictable.  Our current status is an inflationary plateau, where prices remain high but stabilize for likely two quarters.

What the Wall Street Journal outlines as a “shopper rebellion against high prices” is complete hogwash.  Notice in the construct of the narrative, the demand side (consumers) is identified as the cause of diminished revenue & profits for corporations.  They continue pretending that inflation was not driven by energy costs.

(WSJ) – […] Many companies raised their prices substantially last year to offset higher fuel costs and higher prices for ingredients, parts and labor. As fuel prices have dropped and pandemic supply-chain snarls have eased, some of those costs have come down.

That is a good sign for the economy. It suggests that some inflation in the past year resulted from extreme supply-demand imbalances brought on by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine and which are now fading.

Notice the transparent lack of mentioning ‘energy policy’ as the inflation driver.

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You know things are squirrely when you find yourself listening to a rather unorthodox presentation of political events and agreeing with Russell Brand.

Someone shared this with me asking for my opinion.  The presentation is a little over-the-top, but the message conveyed is ultimately accurate; remarkably so.  WATCH:

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The timing here is genuinely ridiculous.  It’s as if the federal government, specifically the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, led by… Richard Trumka Jr (yes, that guy’s son)… doesn’t think or care that we can see the real issue is to change energy uses.

Now that Russia has been isolated from natural gas sales, the European Union needs the supply of all other natural gas markets in order to keep itself from freezing to death.  Simultaneously, natural gas as an energy resource is now bad, terrible like oil and coal, amid the climate change cult.

So, they need to change the narrative and stop people from using natural gas appliances.

Suddenly, after generations of natural gas appliances existing in almost half of the kitchens, suddenly the appliances are toxic, dangerous and likely to require a ban against use.

(Bloomberg) – A federal agency says a ban on gas stoves is on the table amid rising concern about harmful indoor air pollutants emitted by the appliances.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission plans to take action to address the pollution, which can cause health and respiratory problems. “This is a hidden hazard,” Richard Trumka Jr., an agency commissioner, said in an interview. “Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”

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I like Neil Oliver a lot. I like his perspective, his deliberate nature, his refusal to accept the bullshit, and this monologue is one of the reasons why.  I have said it before that in the era of great pretending, the influential people will be those who do not play the game of pretense.  Neil Oliver is one of those people who refuses to play.

In this monologue Oliver uses two of my favorite metaphors to describe modern western civilization.  First, the Potemkin Villages constructed by political elite in their effort to make it seem like the world is something it is not. Second, the great pretending that is needed in order to sell it.

Though the monologue is specific to the current status of our cousin across the pond, the eloquence of the issues could just as easily apply here; indeed, they are almost identical.  WATCH:

[Transcript] – While reading around the subject of Russia and Ukraine this week, I came across the story of the Potemkin villages.

A legend, dismissed as mostly fiction by modern historians, has 18th century Russian statesman Grigory Potemkin building phoney villages along the banks of the Dnipro River just for effect, to create a useful illusion.

His lover, Catherine the Great and her foreign guests, were due to sail down the river on a tour and Potemkin, the story goes, wanted to give them an impressive show of a populous and thriving nation.

As I say, the idea is largely dismissed now – but the term Potemkin village has stuck and is still used today to describe the lengths to which the leaders of a failing, broken country might go in order to create the illusion of success and prosperity when the truth is altogether different.

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How many months ago did CTH start saying ‘watch Mexico’? Having said that, what is unfolding right now in the battle between the Sinaloa cartel and the Mexican military is fraught with unknown variables and hidden U.S. interests.

Use the example of the U.S. manipulating Ukraine as the reference point for what is happening in Mexico right now with Joe Biden and Justin Trudeau scheduled to visit Mexico City in four days for the North American Summit.

It’s all sketchy. Do not formulate opinions because we have no idea how many peas and shells are being maneuvered by U.S. intelligence and national security state interests.

We are told the Mexican military arrested Ovidio Guzman-Lopez, the son of El Chapo, who it is claimed to be running the drug cartel Culiacan, Sinaloa state. Some form of Mexican or U.S. military unit, contractor or federal office with guns and big juice then transferred Ovidio Guzman-Lopez to Mexico City where the summit is supposed to take place.

The Sinaloa cartel has now begun a rampage of revenge across the Sinaloa state attacking, police, government buildings, transportation, airports and planes, setting vehicles ablaze and setting up roadblocks. At least seven Mexican security force personnel are reported to have been killed in clashes where the government was trying to retake control.  Eight civilians are also reported dead.

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The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) released the December jobs report today [DATA HERE] showing 223,000 jobs gained in December ’22.

Most of the job growth was in the “leisure and hospitality” sector (+67,000), healthcare (+55,000), construction (+28,000) and social assistance (+20,000).  Additionally, average hourly earnings rose by 0.3%, with a year-over-year measure of wage growth at 4.6%.

At this point in the history of our economic pretending game, we are well aware the employment numbers are heavily manipulated in order to support the government policymaking that is destroying the same workforce they claim to represent.   It’s all a ruse, just look around your community and you will see what I am talking about.

The financial pundits, Wall Street, government policy makers and various individuals and economic gaslighters are concerned that worker wage growth could drive inflation.  This is one of the most aggravating aspects to reviewing the majority of economic punditry. [Example:]

This knuckleheaded narrative engineer from the New York Times/Atlantic even has the audacity to say, “let prices continue to fall to target,” as if there is a single item at any price that is dropping.  His spin is a good example of gaslighting just from the use of the statement “price inflation is falling back towards where we want it.”

Price inflation is not price.  ‘Price inflation’ is the rate of increase.  There’s a BIG DIFFERENCE between “inflation falling back” and prices dropping. Inflation falling back is merely a lessening of the rate of price increase.  The price does not drop, and never will.

This reality is why it is infuriating to see government policymakers and pundits decry wage growth as a bad thing that might cause inflation.

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That slow grinding creak you hear in the background; that’s the U.S. economic engine running without oil and beginning that slowdown phase just before it stutters and stalls completely.  Alas, the pretending continues…

As noted by the Wall Street Journal, an economic gaslighting institution with a central mission to maintain pretenses, “business surveys show U.S. factory activity declined in December, the Institute for Supply Management and S&P Global both said this week. Separately, S&P Global said Thursday that U.S. services-sector businesses reported a decline in output for the third month running in December.” This comes as “U.S. imports dropped more, by 6.4% on the month, as Americans cut back on holiday-related purchases, including items from other countries such as computers and autos.”

Keep in mind, November retail sales—which included consumer spending at stores, online and at restaurants—fell 0.6% from the prior month for their biggest decline of 2022, according to the Commerce Department. Manufacturing output declined in November as well, the Fed reported, while U.S. home sales fell for a record 10th straight month.

Into this mix of economic metrics, driven by a collapse in disposable consumer income and high energy prices, now we begin to see the number one business expense being curtailed.

(Market Watch) […] Amazon.com Inc layoffs will affect more than 18,000 employees, the highest reduction tally revealed in the past year at a major technology company as the industry pares back amid economic uncertainty.

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Interesting timing here as the North American Summit is scheduled to take place in Mexico City, Mexico, on January 10th.  Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador (AMLO) are scheduled to have several meetings to discuss trade, economic and energy policies.

President Trump releases a video {Direct Rumble Link} and outline for a proposal to eliminate drug Cartels.

Mar-a-Lago, FL – As Joe Biden prepares to make his first-ever trip to the southern border that he deliberately erased, President Trump announced that when he is president again, it will be the official policy of the United States to take down the drug cartels just as we took down ISIS.

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It’s almost painful to go to the grocery store today, not just because the prices for everything are so high, but also because seeing the stress amid the working-class shopping is palpable.  Unfortunately, while we may have a momentary plateau on current pricing, there’s a strong possibility another wave of higher prices is yet to come.

At the core of the issue are energy prices which continue to rise.   The immediate cycle of energy price hikes, a direct consequence of political policy, has lessened somewhat and we are now in that slow tick upward as the pressure on oil, gas, heating and electricity prices continues.

Michael Burry, famous for his predictions in/around the U.S. housing market, is noticing the same thing as CTH.  “Inflation peaked. But it is not the last peak of this cycle,” he said. “We are likely to see CPI lower, possibly negative in 2H 2023, and the US in recession by any definition. Fed will cut and government will stimulate. And we will have another inflation spike. It’s not hard.”

Peak demand side inflation is long in the rearview mirror, but the peak of supply side inflation is questionable at best – I would say it’s a plateau, not a peak.

The price of goods, including industrialized and processed raw materials from China are going to increase again – and simultaneously become less consistent in availability.  This is going to make prices extremely volatile in 2023.

Essentially, everything around price is tenuous as the western economies absorb the full impact of this Build Back Better energy policy, and into this foray comes China with production and processing challenges as a result of COVID bubbles being removed.   We are seeing this problem right now in the pharmaceutical industry and with ordinary medicines becoming scarcer on store shelves.

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