-Norwegian aluminum company Norsk Hydro ASA will halt funding for its hydrogen and green energy business & phase them out over time due to changing market conditions, per Bloomberg.
-JP Morgan is pushing back on “transition finance,” or the popular Wall St (thanks, Blackrock) boondoggle to decarbonize and shift capital allocation to ESG and green projects.
--This was shared by @chigrl with a “dominoes toppling” gif, which is quite appropriate. If JPM is pushing back on this (finally), the others will follow.
x.com/chigrl/status/…
-Biden’s still in office, so of course we’re going to keep having downward economic revisions.
--This latest erases $140 bn from Americans’ personal savings rates for 2024.
--Chart via @zerohedge in the show notes.
Business:
-The Stellantis CEO has abruptly resigned amidst woes for the auto company.
-The Intel CEO has been forced out by the company’s board.
-General Motors is planning on selling its stake in a Michigan EV battery plant to LG Energy.
-For all of the people who claim “billionaires don’t pay their fair share,” Elon Musk reportedly paid $11 bn in taxes, the highest amount for one person on record.
-Speaking of Elon, the US Space Force has publicly stated that it believes his SpaceX has saved them over $40 bn due to lower costs and better performance.
-Cargill, the largest US agriculture trader, will eliminate around 8,200 positions globally after it missed revenue targets, according to @MacroEdgeRes
-CVS will lay off 1,000 employees in Rhode Island, according to Macro Edge Research.
--There are 1,000 people in Rhode Island?
-Starbucks is reportedly slashing its employees’ holiday bonuses by 40%, per Macro Edge Research.
Geopolitics:
-The French-born and former French government member-turned President of Georgia (country, not state) has called the security services removing professional agitators & “regime change deluxe” trained ColorRev foreigners out of the capitol area an “affront to democracy.”
--In the same breath, she said that she wouldn’t step down from her position after losing the first round of elections.
--How democratic of her.
--For those keeping score:
--Professional agitators painted as “protestors” in Georgia: good
--Professional agitators who assaulted the White House on May 29, 2020: good
--ANTIFA who locked Fed police in a courthouse in Portland and burned it down: good
--J6 protestors: bad
--This is your government on lunatic Marxist bad-faith actors.
sofx.com/protests-sprea…
-A vote of no confidence is already being positioned in France, just 4 months after Macron ran some seriously dirty political games to keep Marie Le Pen and her party out of office.
-Germany is planning to switch its oil and coal plants back on to make up for the power demand that isn’t being generated by wind, as per Macro Edge Research.
Social dynamics/societal/culture war/Legal:
-The oral arguments for the US v Skrmetti case is set to be heard by SCOTUS on Wednesday this week.
--Here’s the TL;DR version: Vanderbilt Health System in TN was caught performing sex change surgeries and providing the gender switch drugs to children.
--The TN state lawmakers passed a bill to outlaw the drugs & surgeries for kids in the state, and the Gov signed it into law.
--The ACLU and Biden Admin took the state to court, and SCOTUS agreed to hear the case.
--Here’s the full breakdown from @MattWalshBlog , whose investigation may be the only reason this practice by Vanderbilt became known to the public:
x.com/MattWalshBlog/…
Conspiracy-y:
The powers that be sure don’t seem to want any questions asked or any public knowledge about the Butler shooting against Trump. Let’s go through a few highlights:
-There are 5 MilVets who are sniper qualified currently serving in the US Congress
--Zero of them were appointed to the panel to look into the attempt on Trump
-Crooks’ body was cremated (reportedly at the direction of the FBI) before any outside investigations or toxicology could be conducted
-JP Morgan is pushing back on “transition finance,” or the popular Wall St (thanks, Blackrock) boondoggle to decarbonize and shift capital allocation to ESG and green projects.
--This was shared by @chigrl with a “dominoes toppling” gif, which is quite appropriate. If JPM is pushing back on this (finally), the others will follow.
x.com/chigrl/status/…
-Biden’s still in office, so of course we’re going to keep having downward economic revisions.
--This latest erases $140 bn from Americans’ personal savings rates for 2024.
--Chart via @zerohedge in the show notes.
Business:
-The Stellantis CEO has abruptly resigned amidst woes for the auto company.
-The Intel CEO has been forced out by the company’s board.
-General Motors is planning on selling its stake in a Michigan EV battery plant to LG Energy.
-For all of the people who claim “billionaires don’t pay their fair share,” Elon Musk reportedly paid $11 bn in taxes, the highest amount for one person on record.
-Speaking of Elon, the US Space Force has publicly stated that it believes his SpaceX has saved them over $40 bn due to lower costs and better performance.
-Cargill, the largest US agriculture trader, will eliminate around 8,200 positions globally after it missed revenue targets, according to @MacroEdgeRes
-CVS will lay off 1,000 employees in Rhode Island, according to Macro Edge Research.
--There are 1,000 people in Rhode Island?
-Starbucks is reportedly slashing its employees’ holiday bonuses by 40%, per Macro Edge Research.
Geopolitics:
-The French-born and former French government member-turned President of Georgia (country, not state) has called the security services removing professional agitators & “regime change deluxe” trained ColorRev foreigners out of the capitol area an “affront to democracy.”
--In the same breath, she said that she wouldn’t step down from her position after losing the first round of elections.
--How democratic of her.
--For those keeping score:
--Professional agitators painted as “protestors” in Georgia: good
--Professional agitators who assaulted the White House on May 29, 2020: good
--ANTIFA who locked Fed police in a courthouse in Portland and burned it down: good
--J6 protestors: bad
--This is your government on lunatic Marxist bad-faith actors.
sofx.com/protests-sprea…
-A vote of no confidence is already being positioned in France, just 4 months after Macron ran some seriously dirty political games to keep Marie Le Pen and her party out of office.
-Germany is planning to switch its oil and coal plants back on to make up for the power demand that isn’t being generated by wind, as per Macro Edge Research.
Social dynamics/societal/culture war/Legal:
-The oral arguments for the US v Skrmetti case is set to be heard by SCOTUS on Wednesday this week.
--Here’s the TL;DR version: Vanderbilt Health System in TN was caught performing sex change surgeries and providing the gender switch drugs to children.
--The TN state lawmakers passed a bill to outlaw the drugs & surgeries for kids in the state, and the Gov signed it into law.
--The ACLU and Biden Admin took the state to court, and SCOTUS agreed to hear the case.
--Here’s the full breakdown from @MattWalshBlog , whose investigation may be the only reason this practice by Vanderbilt became known to the public:
x.com/MattWalshBlog/…
Conspiracy-y:
The powers that be sure don’t seem to want any questions asked or any public knowledge about the Butler shooting against Trump. Let’s go through a few highlights:
-There are 5 MilVets who are sniper qualified currently serving in the US Congress
--Zero of them were appointed to the panel to look into the attempt on Trump
-Crooks’ body was cremated (reportedly at the direction of the FBI) before any outside investigations or toxicology could be conducted
-We still don’t have any answers on the GPS ping that showed a device visiting Crooks’ house multiple times that was also a frequent flier at an FBI Office
-Or the gun range that Crooks went to which was also frequented by DHS employees
-Or why the media seems wholly uninterested in asking any further questions
-The latest? DHS kept no records of the interviews for their “investigation” into it, only keeping “summaries” of their interviews with Federal employees (USSS, DHS, etc), per @JD_cashless
White Pill:
This is pretty cool. Musician, entrepreneur, and crypto investor Jon-Collins Black has hidden $2mm worth of artifacts and treasures across the USA. He has published a book that offers clues as to where they are, creating a sort of real-world and modern-day treasure hunt.
Happy to see that some people are willing to use their wealth to offer a little bit of fun and perhaps riches to others. This is far better than the “psychanthropists” who seem fully dedicated to using their wealth to enslave others in a totalitarian Marxist hellscape.
Good on him:
news.artnet.com/art-world/cryp…
Macro takeaways/lessons for the week:
-Biden keeps giving scoring assists to Trump, and his latest citing of a “highly politicized DOJ” in his pardon letter for Hunter is just the latest. Complain about the pardon if you want, but it’s still points on the scoreboard.
-Kash tapped to head the FBI, in language (and with outside support) that makes it seem like a foregone conclusion, not a confirmation fight to be expected. Again, points on the scoreboard.
-EV manufacturers closing down or moving back to combustion engine focus, JPM pushing back on “transition finance,” and critical EV inputs being allocated elsewhere. I sure hope you didn’t go “all-in” on ESG investing.
Implications:
These posts are meant to cover far more than politics, but as personnel is policy and US policy dictates many facets of life globally, I’d like to reiterate just a few Trump personnel picks that are highly indicative of much needed change for the USGOV (and thereby, the world):
-Elon, Vivek, and Dr. Ron Paul at DOGE to find & cut the waste
-JD Vance, crypto investor and former VC, as VP
Kash Patel at FBI
-Former ground pounder Pete Hegseth at DoD
-Tom Homan (proven know-how and intestinal fortitude) as Border Czar
-Tulsi at ODNI (Intel coordinator)
Nobody is perfect, and there are still appointments to be made. For the high-level and broad strokes, however, these alone show that 2024 is wholly different from 2016 in terms of personnel, and some of the most pressing issues for our nation (and the world) seem to be at the forefront given the names and “outsiders” being tapped.
As the wise man once said, “We shall see.”
I am quite hopeful given this list, however.
The Weekly Read (Monday):
The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power by Daniel Yergin
amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Que…
I’ve recommended this book in other long-form posts and podcasts (Iran’s Proxy Wars and the Great Power Competition in the Middle East), but not here. As discussed in that post & podcast, this book is one that a college buddy told me to read, as it is required reading at the oil & gas company that he’s a lawyer for.
It’s as good of a time as any for you to read it now, if you haven’t previously. The issues in Iran, across much of Europe and parts of Asia, Africa, and many others can be traced back to the “Texas tea.” Sometimes that is directly, and sometimes indirectly.
If you’ve followed the @MikeBenzCyber talks that I’ve shared previously, you know that oil and statecraft often go hand-in-hand. Western Europe and the EU are in dire straits right now as the German economy implodes due to catastrophically stupid decisions that cut off their cheap access to oil.
The Biden administration was taking serious steps to cut off our own domestic oil supply, even while purchasing it from adversaries like Venezuela and Iran (no, that was not a conspiracy theory).
-Or the gun range that Crooks went to which was also frequented by DHS employees
-Or why the media seems wholly uninterested in asking any further questions
-The latest? DHS kept no records of the interviews for their “investigation” into it, only keeping “summaries” of their interviews with Federal employees (USSS, DHS, etc), per @JD_cashless
White Pill:
This is pretty cool. Musician, entrepreneur, and crypto investor Jon-Collins Black has hidden $2mm worth of artifacts and treasures across the USA. He has published a book that offers clues as to where they are, creating a sort of real-world and modern-day treasure hunt.
Happy to see that some people are willing to use their wealth to offer a little bit of fun and perhaps riches to others. This is far better than the “psychanthropists” who seem fully dedicated to using their wealth to enslave others in a totalitarian Marxist hellscape.
Good on him:
news.artnet.com/art-world/cryp…
Macro takeaways/lessons for the week:
-Biden keeps giving scoring assists to Trump, and his latest citing of a “highly politicized DOJ” in his pardon letter for Hunter is just the latest. Complain about the pardon if you want, but it’s still points on the scoreboard.
-Kash tapped to head the FBI, in language (and with outside support) that makes it seem like a foregone conclusion, not a confirmation fight to be expected. Again, points on the scoreboard.
-EV manufacturers closing down or moving back to combustion engine focus, JPM pushing back on “transition finance,” and critical EV inputs being allocated elsewhere. I sure hope you didn’t go “all-in” on ESG investing.
Implications:
These posts are meant to cover far more than politics, but as personnel is policy and US policy dictates many facets of life globally, I’d like to reiterate just a few Trump personnel picks that are highly indicative of much needed change for the USGOV (and thereby, the world):
-Elon, Vivek, and Dr. Ron Paul at DOGE to find & cut the waste
-JD Vance, crypto investor and former VC, as VP
Kash Patel at FBI
-Former ground pounder Pete Hegseth at DoD
-Tom Homan (proven know-how and intestinal fortitude) as Border Czar
-Tulsi at ODNI (Intel coordinator)
Nobody is perfect, and there are still appointments to be made. For the high-level and broad strokes, however, these alone show that 2024 is wholly different from 2016 in terms of personnel, and some of the most pressing issues for our nation (and the world) seem to be at the forefront given the names and “outsiders” being tapped.
As the wise man once said, “We shall see.”
I am quite hopeful given this list, however.
The Weekly Read (Monday):
The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power by Daniel Yergin
amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Que…
I’ve recommended this book in other long-form posts and podcasts (Iran’s Proxy Wars and the Great Power Competition in the Middle East), but not here. As discussed in that post & podcast, this book is one that a college buddy told me to read, as it is required reading at the oil & gas company that he’s a lawyer for.
It’s as good of a time as any for you to read it now, if you haven’t previously. The issues in Iran, across much of Europe and parts of Asia, Africa, and many others can be traced back to the “Texas tea.” Sometimes that is directly, and sometimes indirectly.
If you’ve followed the @MikeBenzCyber talks that I’ve shared previously, you know that oil and statecraft often go hand-in-hand. Western Europe and the EU are in dire straits right now as the German economy implodes due to catastrophically stupid decisions that cut off their cheap access to oil.
The Biden administration was taking serious steps to cut off our own domestic oil supply, even while purchasing it from adversaries like Venezuela and Iran (no, that was not a conspiracy theory).
It’s not a great leap to expect that Harris would have followed the same pursuit, given her uber-progressive voting and ideological record.
To understand the history of how the discovery and utilization of “black gold” has transformed the global economy and run statecraft (and its corresponding tradecraft) this book is a must read.
I believe that an understanding of this history and principle will be necessary to truly understand what happens over the next 4-10 years.
Links mentioned in the show:
Intro & Outtro music: Blind by Mike Amabile and Run Over Twice
open.spotify.com/track/6SG99nL3…
More Biden Downward Revisions
(Chart won't display on X but is in the post on Sub)
To understand the history of how the discovery and utilization of “black gold” has transformed the global economy and run statecraft (and its corresponding tradecraft) this book is a must read.
I believe that an understanding of this history and principle will be necessary to truly understand what happens over the next 4-10 years.
Links mentioned in the show:
Intro & Outtro music: Blind by Mike Amabile and Run Over Twice
open.spotify.com/track/6SG99nL3…
More Biden Downward Revisions
(Chart won't display on X but is in the post on Sub)