[Hat Tip Mailroom] This is a very interesting little bureaucratic energy issue with big downstream ramifications.

Almost every transportation and manufacturing company uses the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) “weekly publication of average diesel prices” in order to calculate shipping costs.  According to people in the industry, “this national average is what almost every trucking and logistics company bases their fuel surcharges on.”

However, on June 13th the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, stopped reporting the average weekly diesel price.  For almost a month companies have been using an outdated average price in order to calculate shipping costs and fuel surcharges. [See Screengrab]

Originally the EIA said, “We are implementing new methodology to estimate weekly on-highway diesel fuel prices. On June 13, we started conducting the On-Highway Diesel Fuel Price Survey using new statistical methodologies.” {LINK} However, the EIA has not updated anything since that announcement.

As a result, all of the transportation charges and fuel surcharges have been underestimated and priced for almost a full month.  The political motive for this move is transparent, it stops higher diesel prices from being passed along in the supply chain… which gives an artificial pause on inflation that comes as an outcome of higher diesel transportation costs (specifically trucking).  As explained to CTH:

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Keep all of the Biden administration visits to the Port of Los Angeles, Port of Long Beach and Port of Oakland in mind (aka the hide the ships program) as you review this pending issue with port labor unions.   The labor union contracts expired at 5:00pm today.  Massive wage increases, the result of inflation, are demanded by the unions and White House is likely to get involved (if they are not already).

In a very weird economic scenario, the Biden administration actually benefits from a port stoppage as imports are a deduction to GDP and the U.S. economy is presumably on the “zero” growth bubble.   If the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) calculates a negative GDP in the second quarter (not likely for political reasons), the Biden administration would officially be responsible for a recession.  [Any delay in import quantification helps shape the economic statistics; however, Q2 ended yesterday.]

Additionally, port infrastructure specialist, John D. Porcari, is part of the Biden administration economic team.  Porcari shaped the response to the import and supply chain crisis in 2021 that formed the hilarious ‘hide the ships’ strategy.   Porcari works to prop-up the insufferable Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg who has no idea what he’s doing.

CALIFORNIA – LOS ANGELES, July 1 (Reuters) – The contract covering more than 22,000 workers at 29 U.S. West Coast ports expires late on Friday, dialing up worries that labor disruption could roil the nation’s battered supply chains, stoke inflation and threaten a weakening economy.

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Keep in mind as you review this article from the Wall Street Journal that every corporate (think Wall St) media outlet, has claimed for well over a year, that inflation was predominantly a demand side issue.  In essence, consumer demand was so strong that prices were rising because of it.

The demand side argument/justification for inflation was always false.  However, it was/is still the claim made by members of the Biden administration and almost every board member of the federal reserve.

All of them, almost universally, dismissed the supply side inflation argument which is the reality at the epicenter of inflation causation.

Inflation was/is an exclusive outcome of three supply side aspects which merged simultaneously: (1) the Joe Biden energy policy, (2) the Joe Biden promoted covid response via legislative spending, and (3) the promoted Biden administration monetary policy.

While the legislative spending did create artificial economic activity, all of these inflationary sources are supply side impacts.

The demand side claim for the origin of inflation was always a ruse, a con, a complete farce intended to backstop the claim that inflation would be “transitory” once consumer spending moderated.   From that perspective every approach from government toward controlling inflation was wrong.  Not wrong by accident, wrong as a matter of deceit and purposeful media manipulation in order to maintain the “Build Back Better” or “Green New Deal” agenda….. which, I might add, benefitted from the advanced Wall Street investment in both constructs, globally and domestically.

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Western leaders, specifically including the G7, have a serious problem.  Their collective energy and economic policy, a chase for the climate change and corporate financial agenda, have created the downstream consequences of global food shortages and third-world instability.  The non-industrial nations will now, once again, suffer as a direct result of Western ideology and arrogance.

To combat the pesky third-world pitch forks, today Joe Biden announced the U.S. will lead the G7 in a series of advanced spending measures intended to control how the pain inflicted by the industrialized nations will surface to the rest of the world.   Western media must not let the suffering of the brown people become visible, lest people start to connect the dots and realize the G7 is an ideologically racist and exploitative enterprise.

To soften the reality of the brown people suffering, the leftist administration of Joe Biden will spend $200 billion to mitigate the damage.  There are four aspects:

(1) To increase dependency and control the third-world population the G7 will finance a vaccine manufacturing facility in Senegal.  The breeding of the brown people must be controlled – climate change policy demands it. 

(2) To control the optics of the third-world complaining about it, the G7 will mobilize $335 million in private capital to control the communication systems in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.  The brown people must not discover the nature of their exploitation; and the citizens within the G7 nations must not find out their government is exploiting the brown people. Wouldn’t look good.

(3) The United States will spend $50 million over five years to support gender equity in the developing world increasing the friction between brown women and brown men, while ignoring cultural differences and forcing the social ideology of the West upon them.  And finally…. 

(4) The G7, fearing third-world instability and anger from the brown people that could disrupt their supply chains, the U.S. and Western nations will now seek to increase their control of mining for mineral deposits needed for G7 batteries – and will fund more railroads and ports to export the critical material to the West more quickly. 

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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell admitted the obvious in his senate testimony today when asked about U.S. inflation.  However, his testimony directly contradicts the White House claims.

Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), member of the Senate Banking Committee, walked through the inflation timeline and asked Chairman Powell about the cause of the escalated inflation in 2021.  Powell admitted the massive rise in inflation had nothing to do with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. WATCH (02:16 Prompted):

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The current White House Press Secretary, Karine Jeanne-Pierre, is hopelessly over her head and does not possess the intellectual or professional skills to articulate clear policy or answer questions.  Her professional inability is brutally obvious, yet political correctness dictates everyone is supposed to pretend not to notice.  In a weird way she is a perfect representation of the Biden White House.  Jeanne-Pierre is the Kamala Harris of Hank ‘tippy guam’ Johnsons.

That said, the White House is using former Pentagon spokesperson, and current National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, John Kirby, as a crutch to support Jeanne-Pierre until enough time passes and the permanent switch can take place without backlash from the media and left-wing cultural police.   Narrative engineering is a tenuous business and relies upon media pretense to continue.

With the shortage of infant formula still visible as an example of Biden incompetence, today the White House began selling a proactive strategic communication message in advance of looming food shortages.  {Direct Rumble Link} Yes, you guess it, the advanced position of the Biden administration is that the future U.S. food shortages are Vladimir Putin’s fault.

Apparently, Russian President Vladimir Putin has the ability to drive up U.S. inflation, explode U.S. energy costs, increase gasoline prices, influence global agriculture, weaken U.S. oil refining capability, disrupt availability of diesel fuel, impede the transportation of U.S. goods, force municipal energy companies to raise prices, cancel airline flights, stop the manufacturing of infant formula and now block the production -and increase the cost- of food in North America.

It’s worth noting how John Kirby says NATO and the western allies can deliver thousands of tons of heavy weapons and arms into Ukraine from western Europe without issue; however, the western allies cannot get thousands of tons of grain and foodstuffs out of Ukraine.   I digress.  The propaganda around World War Reddit is remarkable.

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NEC Director Brian Deese delivers a consistent blend of words, claimed to be economic policy, that make absolutely no sense.  Deese is almost as bad at parse tongue gibberish as Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris, but not quite up to their level.   Many will think Deese is uniquely unqualified. However, if you accept that Deese job is to be the distracting front man -spewing nonsense platitudes while others detonate the economic explosives- then he is being successful.

Deese appeared for two interviews, one on Fox News Sunday {SEE HERE} and on on CBS {SEE FULL INTERVIEW HERE}. Fox News (Shannon Bream) attempted zero pushback on Deese ridiculous claims.  CBS (Margaret Brennan) at least pushed back a little harder.  However, we must accept both media outlets are advancing the same corporate agenda by playing the pretend game with Deese appearances.

Deese used the word “transition” eleven times in both interviews in relationship to the economy.   Deese was never asked what this actual “transition” is that he speaks so often about.  At certain trigger points Deese gets down to political nonsense when he says what the Biden team is doing to combat inflation.  He brings up three legislative priorities that he claims will lower consumer costs: (1) raise taxes; (2) federal takeover of all Rx prices; and (3) subsidize energy prices for low-income Americans.   That’s the plan; at least that’s what his unserious word assemblies are intended to claim as a plan, and he’s sticking to it while the media nods along.  WATCH:

{Full Interview with Brennan Here}

FYI, the Brian Deese economic plan is also the Larry Summers economic plan as outlined on Meet the Press {SEE HERE}.  At this point the entire DC system, including both democrat and republican wings of the UniParty vulture, are in alignment to fundamentally change the U.S. economy, justified via climate change, and kick start their carbon trading platform.    There is no entity in/around Washington DC trying to stop the economic collapse caused by energy policy.

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The sanctions against Russia have essentially been futile.  The Russian economy continues growing, oil sales continue taking place, imports and exports continue unabated, albeit with some inconveniences for the people inside Russia – but without impact on the Russian government.  However, what the western sanctions against Russia were successful in speeding up, was an alternative global trading system for 70 percent of the world economies who continue trading with Russia.

That’s the background for Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to state yesterday, “rapid changes are taking place in the global monetary system that may affect the international role of the dollar.”  Additionally, as the proverbial ‘west’ follows the corporate instructions from the World Economic Forum, Powell now expands his points to note the creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) is also being reviewed.  WATCH:

https://youtu.be/BEyVVinT_4I

This is not some grand conspiracy, ‘out there‘ deep geopolitical possibility, or foreboding likelihood as an outcome of short-sighted western emotion.  No, this is just a predictable outcome from western created events that pushed specific countries to a natural conclusion based on their best interests.

You can debate the motives of the western leaders who structured the sanctions against Russia, and whether they knew the outcome would happen as a consequence of their effort, but the outcome was never really in doubt.  Personally, I believe this outcome is what the west intended. The people inside the World Economic Forum are not stupid – ideological, yes, but not stupid. They knew this would happen.

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The White House shares the contents of another phone call between Joe Biden and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy today in a media release.  According to the details of the call, a generous Joe Biden has directed another $1 billion in aid to the laundry operation in order to assist Ukraine “families to purchase essential items.”

WHITE HOUSE – “This morning, I spoke with President Zelenskyy to discuss Russia’s brutal and ongoing war against Ukraine.

[…] I informed President Zelenskyy that the United States is providing another $1 billion in security assistance for Ukraine.

[…] We also remain committed to supporting the Ukrainian people whose lives have been ripped apart by this war. Today, I am also announcing an additional $225 million in humanitarian assistance to help people inside Ukraine, including by supplying safe drinking water, critical medical supplies and health care, food, shelter, and cash for families to purchase essential items.” (read more)

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Mohamed El-Erian, Allianz and Gramercy advisor, is one of the least dishonest people amid the Wall Street propaganda crowd.  Although due to peer pressure, he still tends to couch his economic analysis behind the CNBC screen of pretending not to know things.   [On a personal level, I bet this guy is 80% cash right now.]

This interview is generally not that impressive.  However, at the very end of this segment talking about inflation, what El-Erian says about the first 10 days of June is 100% and he’s the first person to say it. But he won’t repeat it.  WATCH (Prompted):

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He’s looking at the same data set we are.  Watch closely when the May Producer Price Index (PPI) is released (origination, intermediate and final demand to wholesalers), we will see how the inflation costs are continuing to accumulate in the supply chain for all goods and leaking over into the vulnerable service sector now.

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