90 Miles From Tyranny

Tuesday, November 9, 2021

Inflation Increases At Record Rate For Second Month In A Row

The Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures inflation at the wholesale level, rose 8.6% year-over-year as of October, growing at a record rate for a second straight month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced Thursday.

BLS reported Thursday that the PPI, which measures inflation before it hits consumers, grew 0.6% in October, in line with Dow Jones estimates, highlighting that inflationary pressure is still strong.

Over 60% of the month-over-month increase in producer prices resulted from a 1.2% spike in the price of goods rather than services, BLS reported. Goods prices rose 1.2% in October compared to a 0.2% increase in the cost of services. (RELATED: Fed Official Sees Inflation Slowing In 2022)

The spike in wholesale inflation was driven by surging gasoline prices, which grew 6.7% and represented one-third of the increase in goods prices in October.

The PPI grew 0.4% month-over-month when stripping out food, trade and energy prices.

The PPI report is one of two key inflation indicators released this week. BLS is scheduled to release the October consumer price index Wednesday morning, which is expected to have increased 0.6% in October, reflecting a 5.9% annual gain, CNBC reported.

The median consumer expectation, a key inflation indicator released by the New York Federal Reserve, showed an expected 5.7% spike in inflation over the...

Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #53

Customs and Border Protection Seizes Imports From Chinese Company Backed By Kerry Investments

CBP cites law that prohibits foreign imports produced through labor abuses

U.S. Customs and Border Protection last week seized imports from a Chinese company backed by an investment group in which climate czar John Kerry holds a $1 million stake.

Kerry and his wife are invested in Hillhouse China Value Fund L.P., part of the Hillhouse investment group that is a top shareholder in a Chinese solar panel company that works with companies known to be using forced labor. It was on that account that CBP seized the imports from LONGi Green Energy, citing a law that prohibits foreign imports produced through labor abuses.

The news could raise additional concerns about the Kerry family’s investment in Hillhouse China Value Fund L.P., which the climate envoy disclosed at the beginning of the year. Although Kerry divested from many of his energy-related holdings in March, the list of divestments did not include Hillhouse, according to a disclosure Kerry filed in March with the Office of Government Ethics. The investment has drawn scrutiny from Republican lawmakers and China experts, who accuse Kerry of downplaying and enabling China’s human rights abuses while trying to win concessions from Beijing on climate change.

The Hillhouse investment group, which is run by Zhang Lei, an adviser to the Chinese government, owns a 6 percent stake in LONGi. Hillhouse is also a top shareholder of YITU Technology, a company that was blacklisted by the U.S. Department of Commerce for allegedly aiding the Chinese government’s surveillance of Uyghurs.

Kerry's Hillhouse stake is through a trust in which his wife is the beneficiary. He stated in his disclosure that they are not involved in managing the investments.

LONGi, the White House, and CBP did not respond to request for comment.

LONGi Green Energy said its products were temporarily detained by CBP from Oct. 28 to Nov. 3, under a "Withhold Release Order," according to an announcement filed by its board of directors with the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Nov. 4.

Withhold Release Orders are intended to "prevent merchandise produced in whole or in part in a foreign country using forced labor from...

Biden Responds to Skyrocketing Gas Prices by Thinking About Shutting Down Another American Pipeline

If last week’s election was any indication of how the 2022 midterms will go for Democrats, chances are the party will lose control of one or both chambers of Congress.

Rather than moderating, as even the New York Times editorial board advised last week, they’ve chosen to accept their fate and use their remaining time to ram as much of their socialist agenda items through as possible.

On Wednesday, Politico reported that the Biden administration is considering shutting down the Line 5 pipeline in Michigan that pumps 540,000 barrels of oil and other petroleum products per day through the Straits of Mackinac in the Great Lakes.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, has been trying for over a year to shut down this pipeline. In May, she published an op-ed in The Washington Post. She wrote, “[F]or nearly 70 years, an oil company has pumped crude oil through the Straits of Mackinac, where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron connect and where Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas come closest.”

“The two aging, 4.5-mile sections of underwater pipeline are a...

Biden White House Tells Businesses to Follow Vaccine Mandate Despite Court Block

Creepy shower buddy Joe Biden’s White House has advised businesses with 100 or more employees to follow his vaccine mandate despite the temporary halt from a federal court of appeals.

“People should not wait,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday. “They should continue to move forward and make sure they’re getting their workplace vaccinated.”

This past September, President Biden announced that the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will mandate that private companies with 100 or more employees implement vaccine requirements or require weekly negative tests. The president waited nearly two months before releasing the details of his plan, which would not have even taken effect until January of 2022. A company in violation of the mandate could be fined $136,532.

The president’s plan encountered a roadblock on Saturday when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Court issued a temporary stay blocking the mandate while considering a permanent injunction.

The ruling from a three-judge panel on Saturday resulted from a stay sought by the states of Texas, Utah, Mississippi, and South Carolina, as well as several businesses that oppose the Biden plan. The states and businesses filed a petition of review of the agency action, which goes directly to a federal appeals court instead of a one-judge federal district trial court.

“Because the petitions give cause to believe there are grave statutory and constitutional issues with the Mandate, the Mandate is hereby stayed pending further action by this court,” the judges wrote.

The Biden administration asked the court to lift the temporary suspension on Monday, dismissing the states’ and businesses’ unconstitutional claims as “premature,” per CNBC, asserting that the pause “would likely cost dozens or even hundreds of lives per day.”

Republican attorneys general in 26 states have filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration in five different appeals courts. David Vladeck, a professor of law at Georgetown University, told CNBC that the lawsuits have a “high probability” of reaching the Supreme Court, which may or not rule in the administration’s favor.

“There are justices on the court who want to rein in the administrative state and this is a case in which those concerns are likely to come to the fore,” Vladeck told CNBC.

Should the Biden administration have its way and implement the vaccine mandate, the economic consequences could be disastrous. On Monday, the Truckload Carriers Association warned that the rule could...

Diaper Soiler Joe Biden’s choice to be comptroller of the currency at the Treasury Department, Saule Omarova, apparently joined a Facebook group in 2019 called “Marxist Analysis and Policy.”

Fox News reported that in late October, the American Accountability Foundation uncovered a post from 2019 in which a member of the Marxist page posted, “Let’s welcome our newest members: Saule Omarova.”

A post welcoming Saule Omarova to the Facebook group titled “Marxist Analysis and Policy.” (Facebook screenshot)

The post connects to a Facebook account that appears to have a profile picture of the Biden nominee.

The profile picture has 85 public likes and 14 public comments, which are apparently from people close to Omarova, including a University of Minnesota law professor and a Cornell engineering professor.

In September, the White House nominated Omarova for the position that helps regulate national banks. A graduate of Moscow State University, Omarova wrote her thesis about Marxism.Saule T. Omarova during a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing, Sept. 18, 2018. (U.S. Senate/Released)

The Marxist group describes itself as being for socialism and against capitalism.

“This Marxist group is a platform for analysis,policy (sic) and polemics from the perspectives of a diverse range of Socialist and anti-capitalist views,” the group’s description says. “We are against exploitation, inequality, racial (sic) discrimination and ecological destruction at the core of Capitalist social relations. The working class has the potential and the ability to change Capitalism and in the process change itself. Only working people, by (sic) their own efforts, can free themselves from Capitalism. We stand for the self-emancipation of the working class and...