Lies trying to hide how bad the Biden Recession sucks continue to unravel, a mini Texas-vs.-California update, Ukraine makes another oil refinery go boom, true depths of human depravity, some Bill Burr and Critical Drinker links, and two tons of Murica. It’s the Friday LinkSwarm!
Against expectations of a small improvement from -11.3 to -10.0, the headline sentiment gauge dropped to -14.4 (the lowest end of analysts’ forecasts).
Furthermore, the production index, a key measure of state manufacturing conditions, fell five points to -4.1, a reading that suggests a slight decline in output month over month.
Other measures of manufacturing activity also indicated declines this month.
The new orders index – a key measure of demand – dropped 17 points to -11.8 after briefly turning positive last month.
The capacity utilization index edged down five points to -5.7, and the shipments index plunged from 0.1 to -15.4.
The decline in new orders came alongside a surge in prices as raw materials costs rose to 13-month highs…
That has the stench of stagflation lathered all over it.
We first have to go back to December 2022, when we reported something shocking: as part of its data analysis of the “more comprehensive, accurate job estimates released by the BLS as part of its Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program”, the Philadelphia Fed found that the BLS had overstated jobs to the tune of 1.1 million! This is what the Philadelphia Fed wrote in its quarterly Early Benchmark Revision of State Payroll Employment report at the time:
Our estimates incorporate more comprehensive, accurate job estimates released by the BLS as part of its Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program to augment the sample data from the BLS’s CES that are issued monthly on a timely basis. All percentage change calculations are expressed as annualized rates. Read more about our methodology. Learn more about interpreting our early benchmark estimates.
So what did this “more accurate”, “more comprehensive” report find? It found that…
In the aggregate, 10,500 net new jobs were added during the period rather than the 1,121,500 jobs estimated by the sum of the states; the U.S. CES estimated net growth of 1,047,000 jobs for the period.
Lots of detailed analysis snipped.
Putting it all together, we now know – as the Philly Fed reported first – that the labor market is far weaker than conventionally believed. In fact, no less than 800,000 payrolls are “missing” when one uses the far more accurate Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data rather than the BLS’ woefully inaccurate and politically mandated payrolls “data”, and if one looks back the the monthly gains across most of 2023, one gets not 230K jobs added on average every month but rather 130K.
Of course, none of that paints Bidenomics in a flattering picture, because while one can at least pretend that issuing $1 trillion in debt every 100 days to add 3 million jos per year is somewhat acceptable, learning that that ridiculous amount buys 800,000 jobs less is hardly the endorsement that the White House needs.
A Russian-backed “propaganda” network has been broken up for spreading anti-Ukraine stories and paying unnamed European politicians, according to authorities in several countries.
Investigators claimed it used the popular Voice of Europe website as a vehicle to pay politicians.
The Czech Republic and Poland said the network aimed to influence European politics.
Voice of Europe did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment.
Czech media, citing intelligence sources, reported that politicians from Germany, France, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Hungary were paid by Voice of Europe in order to influence upcoming elections for the European Parliament.
The German newspaper Der Spiegel said the money was either handed over in cash in covert meetings in Prague or through cryptocurrency exchanges.
Pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk is alleged by the Czech Republic to be behind the network.
Mr Medvedchuk was arrested in Ukraine soon after the Russian invasion, but later transferred to Russia with about 50 prisoners of war in exchange for 215 Ukrainians.
Czech authorities also named Artyom Marchevsky, alleging he managed the day-to-day business of the website. Both men were sanctioned by Czech authorities.
(Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
The radical leftists in control of Baltimore City Hall have plunged the metro area just north of Washington, DC, into apocalyptic levels. We advise readers to entirely avoid the metro area as violent crime spirals out of control.
Failed social justice reforms, defunding the police, and widespread mistrust of the police have resulted in a skeleton police force that will no longer be able to protect residents in some regions of the city.
Fox Baltimore reported last Tuesday that only three police officers were on duty for the Southern Police District, which includes more than 61,000 residents.
Dog shot during the robbery given a warm send off by hospital staff after undergoing multiple surgeries..🐕🐾🥺🙏❤️ pic.twitter.com/OnSjqmRt2u
— 𝕐o̴g̴ (@Yoda4ever) March 27, 2024
(Hat tip: Ace of Spades HQ.)
Hit the tip jar if you’re so inclined.
Tags: 2024 Election, Arizona, Artyom Marchevsky, Baltimore, Biden Recession, Bill Burr, California, cars, Charles Butt, Crime, Critical Drinker, Czech Republic, deficits, defund the police, Disney, Economics, economy, electric cars, FBI, Federal Reserve, Flagstaff, Florida, Ford, Ford F-150, Foreign Policy, fraud, gay, Greg Abbott, HEB, Hollywood, Holtec International, inflation, Japan, LinkSwarm, Michigan, Military, nuclear power, oil industry, pedophilia, Pickup Truck, rap music, Republicans, Ron DeSantis, Russia, Russo-Ukrainian War, Samara, San Francisco, Sean Combs AKA "Puff Daddy" AKA "Diddy", sex offender, Social Justice Warriors, stagflation, Stellantis, Texas, Twitch, Ukraine, unemployment, Viktor Medvedchuk
I have more questions. Do you need a Form 4 and a tax stamp for an “automatic butt jiggler”? Or is more of the media confusion between semi-automatic butt jigglers and true full-auto butt jigglers? Weren’t post-1986 full-auto butt jigglers banned unless they were for law enforcement or military use?
Consumers Energy, which built and closed the Palisades NPP, nearly went bankrupt in 2007. They came back by buying Michigan’s state level politicians left and right. Those politicians mandated RPS – renewable portfolio standards – in 2008 to clothe ratepayer rape in the guise of environmental beneficence. Michigan Public Act 295 of 2008 is a fusion of utility greed with environmental wacko madness.
Consumers closed Palisades in a quite successful effort to drive up Michigan electricity prices. They are also closing all their conventional coal fired thermal power plants. They officially claim that solar and wind are the future, but in actuality are shifting to natural gas fired combined cycle power plants. DTE, Michigan’s other major utility has followed suite. Unfortunately, Michigan does not have the natural gas transmission network to support all these natural gas fired power plants, and those combined cycle power plants have experienced many premature turbine blade failures.
Michigan now has the highest electricity prices in the Midwest, and the lowest electrical grid reliability in the nation.
From the article: “The backbone manufacturing of this country isn’t looking good at all. What is clear is that economic risks abound, and a soft landing is far from the truth out here. I have never seen it this bad in the capital equipment industry in the last 30 years.”
Record budget deficits are placing unprecedented demands on the capital markets and driving interest rates higher. Perversely, starving out the capital goods market will lead to demands that the Fed cut the discount rate so as to rescue the manufacturing industries but who will fund this operation if the rate of return is being significantly diminished by inflation with no end in sight?
Well, I went and clicked on the “his husband” (barf) link. Yeah, it’s bad. I couldn’t watch the whole thing, so I don’t know if planned to wait for the poor kid to actually be born before his intended assault. Nowadays, who knows?
Obergefell needs to be overturned and the alphabet people shoved back into the closet, or the asylum. Their predilections run exactly counter to the biological function of sex and thus constitute severe defects. We should be seeking *cures* for them, not encouraging their embrace of their deviations.