History may not always repeat, but it rhymes.   As seen in just about every situation where socialism and government intervention in the market economy of any nation is triggered, eventually you get to the point where government solutions to their created crisis take center stage.

We have seen this exact scenario repeated in the former Soviet Union, Poland, Europe, Cuba and more recently Venezuela.  The triggers are the same, and the outcomes are identical. Now, as unbelievable as it may seem, Joe Biden’s socialist policies have triggered the discussion in the United States.

CTH warned this was going to become a narrative; and we saw the first signs of it at the White House podium on January 12th.

WASHINGTON – People are paying a lot more for food, gas, cars and services, and inflation isn’t over yet as the pandemic continues to distort the economy. So, should governments consider setting the price of essential goods?

It’s been done before, typically during times of crisis, but for most mainstream economists, the answer to this question is a resounding “no.” Limiting how much companies can charge will distort markets, they argue, causing shortages and exacerbating supply chain problems while only temporarily reducing inflation.

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A study out of Israel is showing the fourth shot, second booster of COVID vaccine, provides no benefit in the prevention of the Omicron variant.

(Reuters) – A fourth shot of COVID-19 vaccine boosts antibodies to even higher levels than the third jab but it is not enough to prevent Omicron infections, according to a preliminary study in Israel.

Israel’s Sheba Medical Center has given second booster shots in a trial among its staff and is studying the effect of the Pfizer booster in 154 people after two weeks and the Moderna booster in 120 people after one week, said Gili Regev-Yochay, director of the Infectious Diseases Unit.

[…] “We know by now that the level of antibodies needed to protect and not to get infected from Omicron is probably too high for the vaccine, even if it’s a good vaccine.” (read more)

I’m at a complete loss about why anyone would keep arguing for value in the vaccine passport.  If vaccinated and unvaccinated equally are susceptible to COVID infection, and the vaccine does nothing of benefit in that encounter, then why in the heck are vaccine passports even considered of value?

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There has been a great deal of discussion and debate about the Democrat party having evolved into a full-blown communist apparatus.  However, a Rasmussen poll released today [DATA HERE] puts the debate to rest with empirical data.

Democrats are FACTUALLY the party of totalitarian communists.   Consider:

♦ Forty-five percent (45%) of Democrats favor the government forcing unvaccinated people into federal quarantine camps if they refuse the COVID-19 vaccine.

♦ Nearly half (48%) of Democrat voters think federal and state governments should be able to fine or imprison individuals who publicly question the efficacy of the existing COVID-19 vaccines on social media, television, radio, or in online or digital publications.

♦ 47% of Democrats favor a government tracking system, ankle monitors or locked collars, for those who won’t get the COVID-19 vaccine.

♦ Twenty-nine percent (29%) of Democratic voters support forcibly removing children from the custody of unvaccinated parents.

♦ 55% of Democratic voters support fines and financial punishment for the unvaccinated.

♦ Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Democrats favor government requiring unvaccinated citizens to remain confined to their homes. (read poll here)

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In the Netherlands the typically high-brow, polite and social society has been a little shocked at how the Dutch proles have begun to express anger toward the totalitarian dictates of the professional political class.

Amid this class-driven über-sensitive social fabric, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is now in the tenuous position of holding a governmental system together with a coalition of disparate leftist groups who are, well, a little eclectic all things considered.

As noted recently “One of the biggest challenges for the new government is the rise in public mistrust and anger towards politics and politicians.  The Netherlands has seen some of Europe’s biggest opposition and protests against government COVID-19 policy. Many Dutch lawmakers say they don’t feel safe. Some of them now have to be protected by police around the clock – a shock in a country where ministers often ride bicycles rather than use their official cars.” (link)

The land of skinny pant beta males has, as the most sensitive progressives would expect, put women into all of the systems of government to showcase their civic investment and high-minded multicultural progress.  The Netherlands is the type of place where Davos attendees feel comfy sipping filtered dew from the petals of spring tulips and discussing the best way to save the planet from the scourge of the shallow working class.  Okay, so that’s the context…

Into this mix comes a young Dutch wolverine, a new Member of Parliament named Gideon van Meijeren; who appears to be a rather cheeky rebel, quite comfortable telling the elite they look silly. THIS you have to watch to appreciate (Direct Rumble Link):

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Baltimore’s very special State Attorney, Marilyn Mosby, became famous in 2015 during the Freddie Gray case and the trial of six Baltimore police officers.   Mosby led the “Black Lives Matter” effort to create a fraudulent case which resulted in two failed efforts at prosecution and the dismissal of all other charges.  Meanwhile, Baltimore burned…

Earlier today, a grand jury delivered a four count indictment related to Mosby’s efforts to swindle COVID pandemic relief money for her own personal gain.  Two counts of perjury (pandemic relief money), and two counts of falsifying mortgage applications without revealing she had outstanding IRS liabilities.  She tried to purchase homes in Florida.

BALTIMORE – A Maryland grand jury on Thursday indicted Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby on two counts of perjury and two counts of filing false mortgage applications.

Mosby faces a hearing at an unscheduled date in the U.S. District Court of Maryland in Baltimore. If convicted on the charges, Mosby faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine for each count of filing a false mortgage application and up to five years in prison for each perjury charge.

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Not to be deterred by such pesky inconveniences as a Supreme Court decision, immediately after the high court ruled the vaccine mandate was unconstitutional federal overreach – the White House told employers to enforce the vaccine mandate anyway.

White House Spokesperson Jennifer Psaki said the Biden administration would “not be deterred” by the Supreme Court decision, and all employers should immediately continue to “initiate vaccination requirements.”  WATCH:

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Unfortunately, the upward trend is continuing unabated.  The “producer price index” is essentially the tracking of wholesale prices at three stages: Origination (commodity), Intermediate (processing), and then Final (to wholesale).  Today, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) released December price data [Available Here] showing a dramatic 9.7% increase year-over-year in Final Demand products at the wholesale level.

I’m not going to beat this dead horse {Go Deep Here}, except to point out a few even larger warning signs that are evident.    Suffice to say, despite the spin likely from defenders of the White House occupant, the inflation impact is continuing exactly as we would expect.

The monthly price increase was 0.2% which would under normal circumstances give the impression that price pressure for the month was lower than previous.  However, there’s a key component clouding the problem.

As noted by the BLS, “A major factor in the December decrease in prices for final demand goods was the index for gasoline, which moved down 6.1 percent.” Gas prices momentarily dropped in the December capture of pricing; this has skewed the data considerably.  As a consequence, the energy costs measured in December looked like they dropped 3.3 percent.

You are well aware that gasoline has jumped back up in price in the past few weeks.  Additionally, total energy costs to you have not dropped at all.  In the background of this momentary skew, the costs of final demand goods after the energy impact rose .04% in December.

The momentary drop in gasoline and diesel fuel in December gives an artificial outcome in the data for all three stages.   Oil prices are back on the climb, and the prices of the goods and services overall to consumers have not reflected any decrease; factually they have increased even more.

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A Quinnipiac poll released today [DATA HERE] shows just how far Joe Biden has fallen in the eyes of most Americans.  Of particular note inside the data is how Hispanics and Latinos view the Biden policies as complete failures.

Among adults overall, Americans give negative scores on the following issues when asked about Biden’s handling of…

• The economy: 34 percent approve, while 57 percent disapprove;
• Foreign policy: 35 percent approve, while 54 percent disapprove;
• The response to the coronavirus: 39 percent approve, while 55 percent disapprove.

(See Full Poll Results Here)

The absence of food will change things….. Quickly.

The issues will fluctuate region by region and chain by chain as we enter the destabilization phase.  In this phase the impacts in some operators will be small, and in others will be more noticeable.  The difference will be the overall operational excellence in the proprietary business system they operate.

However, once the internal merit is exhausted, the manufacturing issues will impact all food retailers regardless of their warehouse and distribution excellence, or lack thereof.  Ironically, small independent stores might be in the best position to withstand fresh supply pressure as they are closer to the field.

The further away the retail business operation is from the farmer, the greater the impact.  The more people, systems and bureaucracy there are between the retailer and the farmer, the greater the operational impact.  The longer the supply chain, the greater the impact.  It is an unusual dynamic, but the local farmers’ markets are going to be the best source of consistent local supply.  That reality is why the urban areas are going to be hit the hardest.

In this media report from Philadelphia, the local NBC affiliate blames the food supply issues exclusively on Omicron.

This claim is patently false [SEE HERE].

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The final straw, to collapse the remaining supply, will likely be the cross-border truck driver vaccine mandate which kicks in on January 15th.

After that, things start to get sketchy.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) and Port of Long Beach (POLB) to announce the Biden administration officially saved Christmas.  Yes, that actually happened.   Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti took it one step further and proclaimed Secretary Buttigieg as the official “man who saved Christmas”.   WATCH:

The Biden administration is making these ridiculous claims, because they know that no one in the media will actually look into the data and challenge them on the insufferable nonsense.  [SEE DATA HERE]

However, beyond the ridiculous claims about increasing port container delivery, when there was actually a decline in port container delivery, the POLA and POLB scheme to hide the ships {Go Deep} has now spread to the Port of Oakland, California.

“Operation Hide the Ships”

OAKLAND – […] Following its success in Southern California, the new system is being expanded to the Bay Area. Ships will wait 50 miles off the coast in a safety and air quality zone until their scheduled arrival time at the Port.

The new system became effective Monday. Ships will get an arrival time based on when they left their last port of call. Before Monday, ships were given an arrival time when they were fewer than 80 nautical miles from the coast.

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