Wednesday 4 May 2022

Fed Day. Inflation Or What?

 Baltic Dry Index. 2412 +08  Brent Crude 106.03

Spot Gold 1865

Coronavirus Cases 02/04/20 World 1,000,000

Deaths 53,100

Coronavirus Cases 04/05/22 World 514,707,994

Deaths 6,265,920

There can be few fields of human endeavour in which history counts for so little as in the world of finance. Past experience, to the extent that it is part of memory at all, is dismissed as the primitive refuge of those who do not have the insight to appreciate the incredible wonders of the present.

John Kenneth Galbraith.

It is high noon for the US Fed. Either they will put up or shut up on their Great Mistake on inflation. 

Inflation wasn’t “transitory” as they pretended for all of last year. They knew it wasn’t all along, but were only to willing to allow inflation to roar.

Now they face only bad choices. 

Seriously raise their key interest rate and push the US economy into first stagflation and then severe recession. Or raise once and do nothing, allowing US inflation, and with it global inflation, to run its course through the global economy.

Given China’s covid-19 futile lockdown policy generating supply chain disruption leading to global inflation, plus our looming food chain supply crisis turning into catastrophe, a sensible Fed policy would be to hike by one percent and then stop for the rest of the year to see what happens in China and in global food supply. 

Don’t expect anything sensible from the Burns Powell Fed.

Of course, all this is moot if Biden, Johnson and Trudeau talk and proxy war us into WW3 nuclear war as seems all too likely by three very desperate, devious, dubious “leaders.”

Hong Kong leads losses as Asia-Pacific stocks decline; Alibaba and Tencent shares drop at least 3%

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific were lower in Wednesday trade, with investors looking ahead to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision expected later stateside.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 1.12% as shares of Tencent and Alibaba both declined at least 3% each.

Elsewhere, the Kospi in South Korea dipped 0.22% while the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia sat fractionally lower.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.26% lower.

Markets in Japan and mainland China are closed on Wednesday for holidays.

“Asian markets may see choppy trading today with market players bracing for the Fed’s expeditious rate hike trajectory and Quantitative Tightening strategy, especially with Fed chair Powell’s press conference on tap (which could reveal his views on the recession risk and also the possibility of 75bp rate hikes),” analysts at OCBC Treasury Research wrote in a Wednesday note.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates on Wednesday for the second time since 2018. The central bank is also expected to launch a program to reduce its bond holdings by $95 billion a month starting in June.

The Fed is expected to hike interest rates and slash its balance sheet aggressively over the next 16 months, and majority of the respondents in the May CNBC Fed Survey see the process leading to a recession.

“Given the already high rate of inflation and the recent strong data, I think that the Fed may continue to tighten ‘expeditiously’ until downside risks to activity materialize, and they start to put downside pressure on inflation,” said Blerina Uruci, U.S. economist at T. Rowe Price.

Overnight stateside, the S&P 500 climbed 0.48% to 4,175.48. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 67.29 points, or 0.2%, to 33,128.79. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.22% to 12,563.76.

More

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/04/asia-markets-us-federal-reserve-currencies-oil.html

Next, Russia hits back. Anything you can do, Russia tells the west, we can do too. Nothing good comes from economic anarchy, whether by the west or by Russia.

Putin puts West on notice: Moscow can terminate exports and deals

LONDON, May 3 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin put the West on notice on Tuesday that he could terminate exports and deals, the Kremlin's toughest response yet to the sanctions burden imposed by the United States and allies over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Putin, Russia's paramount leader since 1999, signed a broad decree on Tuesday which forbade the export of products and raw materials to people and entities on a sanctions list that he instructed the government to draw up within 10 days.

The decree, which came into force with its publication, gives Moscow the power to sow chaos across markets as it could at any moment halt exports or tear up contracts with an entity or individual it has sanctioned.

The Russian government has 10 days to draw up lists of those it will sanction beyond the Western politicians it has already.

Putin explicitly framed the decree as a response to what he cast as the illegal actions of the United States and its allies meant to deprive "the Russian Federation, citizens of the Russian Federation and Russian legal entities of property rights or the restricting their property rights".

The decree sets out "retaliatory special economic measures in connection with the unfriendly actions of some foreign states and international organizations".

Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine prompted the United States and its allies to impose the most severe sanctions in modern history on Russia and Moscow's business elite, steps Putin casts as a declaration of economic war.

The West's attempt to economically isolate Russia - one of the world's biggest producers of natural resources - has propelled the global economy into uncharted waters with soaring prices and warnings of food shortages.

Putin, 69, has repeatedly warned that Moscow will respond in kind, though until Tuesday the Kremlin's toughest economic response had been to cut off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria and demand a new payment scheme for European buyers of gas.

Tuesday's decree forbids the export of products and raw materials to people and entities that the Kremlin has sanctioned. It forbids any transactions with such people or entities - even under current contracts.

Putin tasked the government with drawing up the list of foreign individuals and companies to be sanctioned, as well as defining "additional criteria" for a number of transactions that could be subject to restrictions.

More

https://www.reuters.com/world/putin-signs-decree-new-retaliatory-sanctions-against-west-kremlin-2022-05-03/

In the oil market, despite the strategic oil reserves releases, high prices are likely here to stay until finally the next global recession hits.

EU set to unveil sanctions on Russian oil as fighting rages in Ukraine

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine, May 4 (Reuters) - The European Union is expected to outline oil sanctions against Moscow on Wednesday as Russian forces pounded targets in eastern Ukraine, unleashing rockets on a steel plant that is the last redoubt for resistance in the port city of Mariupol.

Scores of evacuees who managed to leave the city under United Nations and Red Cross auspices reached the relative safety of Ukraine-controlled Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday after cowering for weeks in bunkers beneath the sprawling Azovstal steel plant. read more

----European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to spell out the proposed new sanctions on Wednesday, including a ban on imports of Russian oil by the end of this year. read more

Moscow showed no signs of backing down nearly 10 weeks into what it calls a "special military operation," a war that has killed thousands, destroyed cities and driven 5 million Ukrainians to flee abroad. Russia's own $1.8 trillion economy is heading for its biggest contraction since the years following the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union.

Putin raised the economic stakes for Kyiv's Western backers by announcing plans to block exports of vital raw materials. read more

Russian forces have turned their heaviest firepower on Ukraine's east and south after failing to take Kyiv, the capital, in the opening weeks of the war.

There were also fresh attacks in the west on Tuesday. The mayor of Lviv said Russian misile strikes had damaged electricity and water networks in the western city near the Polish border, across which flows Western arms supplies for Ukraine's military.

Russian forces also struck six railway stations in the centre and west of the country, the head of Ukraine's railways, Olesksandr Kamyshin, said. There were no injuries to civilians, he added on Twitter.

More

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-set-unveil-sanctions-russian-oil-fighting-rages-ukraine-2022-05-04/

Oil: 'Something far more serious is going on,' says analyst

Mon, May 2, 2022, 8:00 PM

The oil market is undergoing a serious production problem, warns one analyst, even as prices retreat temporarily amid Covid lockdowns in China.

"From the long term, something far more serious is going on — and that is what's going on in Russia," Dan Dicker, founder of The Energy Word told Yahoo Finance Live.

"The energy companies, Exxon (XOM), Total (TTE), BP (BP), leaving Russia, stranding assets in Russia. What we've seen is that production in Russia is down more than a million barrels in April alone," said Dicker.

"That's going to be a long term systemic problem with production in Russia," he added. "That's a very very big deal for long term prices."

Western nations imposed sanctions on Moscow in response to the invasion of Ukraine in February. Since then, Western companies have largely abandoned investments and operations in Russia. The market has placed a 'de facto ban' on Russian crude, causing prices to go higher.

The analyst says Russian oil can be re-routed into China and India at a discount price. But a loss of production puts upward pressure on the entire oil industry.

"When you move it from the west towards the east, you have an issue in terms of prices. The Chinese and the Indians are paying a discount to take what is basically black market oil," he added.

"Oil that's lost from the global supply chain because of production problems in Russia, is lost. Period. There is no money to be gained from that," he said.

"That, I think is going to be the far more important aspect going forward," he added.

More

https://www.yahoo.com/news/oil-something-far-more-serious-is-going-on-says-analyst-190031166.html

Hungary will not support sanctions on Russian oil and gas shipments

REUTERS Published: MAY 3, 2022 10:19

Hungary will not support sanctions that would make Russian oil and gas shipments to Hungary impossible, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in a statement on Tuesday.

Speaking in Kazakhstan, Szijjarto said Russian oil shipments via the Druzhba pipeline accounted for about 65% of the oil Hungary needed and there were no alternative supply routes that could replace that.

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-705743

Slovakia says it will seek exemption from any EU embargo on Russian oil

May 3 (Reuters) - Slovakia will seek an exemption from any embargo of Russian oil agreed by the European Union in its next set of sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, Slovakia's Economy Ministry said on Tuesday.

The European Commission is preparing a sixth package of sanctions against Russia and is expected to finalise work on Tuesday. read more

Two EU officials said on Monday the EU executive may spare Slovakia and Hungary from an embargo on buying Russian oil, mindful of the two countries' dependence on Russian crude.

Slovakia gets nearly all of its imported crude from Russia, and the country has said it had reserves for 120 days.

"If it comes to an approved embargo of Russian oil as part of a further package of sanctions against Russia, then Slovakia will request an exemption," the ministry said in a reply to Reuters questions.

The ministry said processing of different types of oil was not immediately possible and that a switch of technology was difficult financially and time-consuming.

"Therefore we request a longer transition period for oil transported by pipeline," the ministry said.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/slovakia-seeks-exemption-any-eu-embargo-russian-oil-ministry-says-2022-05-03/

Finally, a summer of yet more supply chain disruption is at hand.

Xi’s lockdowns will pull the rug out from under US truckers this summer

Craig Fuller, CEO at FreightWaves  Monday, April 25, 2022

Whenever the trucking market slows, truck drivers look for someone to blame. Normally, a slowdown is just a function of supply and demand. The market has too much dispatchable capacity compared to the total number of loads on any given day. 

This summer, the trucking market could have one of its steepest declines in recent years and there is an entity that deserves much of the blame – the Chinese Communist Party and its draconian and inhumane lockdowns. 

---- While Americans watch in horror as innocent Chinese citizens are caught up in an ill-conceived, reckless, or nefarious – take your pick – act by the Chinese Communist Party, there is little Americans can do about it. But like most geopolitical events these days, the lockdowns in Shanghai and other Chinese cities are also a supply chain story that will have a dramatic effect on domestic freight markets. 

The recent slowdown in U.S. truckload markets is likely a precursor to a steeper decline in the coming weeks. The lockdowns in China were not a factor in slowing U.S. truckload volumes in February and March, as evidenced by record container imports at nearly all major U.S. ports. 

But that shouldn’t give anyone comfort because the slowdown is about to hit U.S. ports – and the trucking companies that service them – in a dramatic way. FreightWaves estimates that container imports from China represent approximately 16% of U.S. truckload volumes and an even larger percentage of U.S. dry van truckloads. After all, nearly half of the containers that come into the United States originate in China. 

---- Beijing, which is the political capital of China, was expected to be spared the lockdowns by many analysts. This appears to be wishful thinking and Twitter lit up on April 24 with reports of Chinese state police starting to implement similar measures to those seen in the preparation for lockdowns in other cities.

The three largest cities in China are going to be removed from the world market. According to analysts, at least 40% of China’s GDP has been taken offline and this was before lockdowns began in Beijing. The vast majority of this GDP is directly related to global manufacturing. Removing it means removing the flow of containers from the world economy. 

Container volumes from China to the United States started to fall on April 6. It hasn’t been a direct line down; more like a roller coaster. In the first 10 days, container volumes dropped by 31%. Volumes have since rebounded about halfway, to “just” a 16% drop. But according to FreightWaves SONAR’s volume booking forecast, volumes have started to drop once again and could fall to 50% of the April 6 number by May 9. This would be nearly the same level of a drop that China to U.S. exports saw during the Chinese New Year in 2022 and lower than any other point since July 2020. 

Chinese ports are operating, but the bigger risk is with Chinese trucking operations. According to a report in Bloomberg, only 20% of Shanghai’s trucking capacity is operating. Trucking is a bigger part of the flow of containers in and out of the Chinese ports than in the United States. Over 75% of container volumes in China ports enter or exit on a truck, while in the U.S. both trucks and railroads move freight from our ports.

The loss of trucking capacity in China means that raw materials and components can’t get from the ports to factories and finished goods can’t leave the factories to the ports to be put on ships for export. The temporary blip (dead cat bounce) was likely containers that were already in the queue at the port prior to the lockdowns. 

Since factories can’t receive new components or raw materials, they will also stop operating once their supplies are exhausted. Supply chains involve large webs of suppliers that are interconnected and just because one supplier is online does not mean that other suppliers are. Once they shut down, it will take much longer to bring them up to full productivity. 

According to SONAR’s ocean intelligence dashboard, it currently takes 27 days for a vessel to travel from a Chinese port to a U.S. port. Since the volume of containers from China to the U.S. started its drop on April 6, it will likely be May 3 before U.S. ports experience a drop in volume. 

It takes approximately 10 days to three weeks after a vessel arrives in the U.S. before the containers that traveled on board enter the domestic surface freight market. This would put a slowdown in trucking freight volumes related to Chinese imports between May 13 and May 24.

More

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/xis-lockdowns-will-pull-the-rug-out-from-under-us-truckers-this-summer

If economists could manage to get themselves thought of as humble, competent people on a level with dentists, that would be splendid. 

John Maynard Keynes.

Global Inflation/Stagflation Watch.

Given our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians,  inflation now needs an entire section of its own.

Corn and soybean planting progress still behind five-year averages

By Laurie Bedord  5/2/2022

The USDA released its fifth Crop Progress report Monday afternoon. These reports run weekly through the end of November and look at the progress and condition of various crops on a national and state-by-state scale.

CORN

As of Sunday, the report pegged corn planted at 14%, compared with 33% for the previous five-year average; 3% has emerged compared with 6% for the previous five-year average.

SOYBEANS

As of Sunday, the report has 8% of soybeans planted, compared with 13% for the previous five-year average.

WHEAT

Spring wheat planted was reported at 19% compared with 28% for the prior five-year average; 5% has emerged compared with 7% for the previous five-year average.

Winter wheat headed came in at 23% vs. the 29% five-year average. Winter wheat condition was 27% good/excellent and 43% poor/very poor. This compares with the previous year average of 48% good/excellent and 19% poor/very poor. 

----"The really important benchmark to watch is the USDA Crop Progress report that will be released on Monday, May 9," says Al Kluis, Kluis Commodity Advisors. "Last year that report showed corn planting at 67% and the five-year average that week should be at 52%. Usually (but not every year), it is hard to get a trend line yield in the U.S. if the corn crop is not at the 50% planted mark by May 10."

https://www.agriculture.com/crops/progress-maps/crop-progress-report-may-2-2022

USDA REPORTS 14% OF U.S. CORN, 8% OF SOYBEANS PLANTED
May 3, 2022  BrownfieldAgNews reports:

---- Spring wheat planting is also being impacted by the weather, with just 19% of the crop in the ground, compared to 28% on average, with 5% of emerged, compared to 7% normally this time of year.

16% of cotton is planted, compared to the typical pace of 15%.

45% of rice is planted, compared to the five-year average of 56%, with 24% emerged, compared to 38% on average.

https://www.agrimarketing.com/s/140748

Shanghai lockdown sends chill down meat trade

Mon, May 2, 2022, 1:06 AM

BEIJING (Reuters) - The protracted lockdown in Shanghai, China's financial hub, is slowing the nation's normally booming meat trade, with stringent COVID-19 measures causing logistics logjams across the food industry in a sign of the broadening disruptions to business.

The challenge of moving food in and around Shanghai, whose residents are into a month-long stressful home isolation, highlights similar problems in many other Chinese cities as Beijing persists with its controversial zero-COVID strategy despite growing risks to its economy https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-struggles-options-covid-threatens-economic-goals-2022-04-28.

China is the world's biggest buyer of meat, bringing in more than 9 million tonnes last year, worth about $32 billion, and the financial hub with a thriving dining scene accounts for the largest chunk of imports.

Traders rely on Shanghai's ideal location for distributing product around the country, but since an outbreak of COVID-19 cases forced a lockdown in the city at the end of March, moving chilled or frozen products has become a costly headache.

"Unloading containers is actually ok. The real issue is logistics out of the harbour, getting trucks and drivers to pick up the product," said Soeren Tinggaard, Vice President at the Pinggu Retail & Foodservice business for pork processor Danish Crown.

Frequent COVID tests, lengthy quarantines and long clearance times to enter Shanghai have kept many drivers away, while fewer refrigerated trucks are available because of special licensing requirements.

IMPORTS PRESSURED

Other food products, including dairy and edible oils, have also been stuck in the Shanghai port, while beef imports into the city have dropped 23% year-on-year in March. Taken together with other cities under COVID-19 restrictions, the data suggests food exporters like Brazil, the United States and Australia are facing pressure on their trade with the world's second-biggest economy.

Australian beef exports to China fell 10% year-on-year in March, when the lockdown had just started, while overall pork imports fell 70%.

Pork imports could plunge as much as 30% this year because of the logistics woes, compared with a previous estimate of 10%, said Pan Chenjun, senior analyst at Rabobank.

More

https://www.yahoo.com/news/shanghai-lockdown-sends-chill-down-000657228.html

British factories lift prices at record pace as Ukraine war and China lockdowns send costs soaring

Tuesday 03 May 2022 10:47 am

Severe supply chain disruption caused by Beijing persisting with its zero-Covid tolerance policy and Russia’s war with Ukraine has sent British factories’ costs soaring at the quickest pace on record, reveals a closely watched survey released today.

Shortages of raw materials and key components used by UK manufacturers due to normal trade flows being choked by fighting in Ukraine and key ports in China being locked down to quash a spike in Covid-19 cases has swelled factories’ costs.

UK manufacturers lifted prices at the fastest pace on record, according to S&P Global’s latest purchasing managers’ index (PMI), in a bid to protect their margins.

The fresh data underscores the scale and persistence of the inflation crunch filtering through the global economy.

Separate data from S&P Global for the eurozone and the US has illustrated manufacturers across rich nations are being hit by higher costs and passing these onto consumers.

The latest PMI also indicates UK inflation is set to scale above an already 30-year high of seven per cent.

Capital goods produced by manufacturers are used across the economy, meaning consumer firms will either have to absorb thinner margins or hike prices to protect profits, adding to existing pressure on household finances.

“The inflationary situation is getting increasingly fraught. Input costs rose to the second-greatest extent in the 30-year survey history, leading to a record increase in factory gate selling prices,” Rob Dobson, director at S&P Global, said.

More

https://www.cityam.com/british-factories-lift-prices-at-record-pace-as-ukraine-war-and-china-lockdowns-send-costs-soaring/

Below, why a “green energy” economy may not be possible, and if it is, it won’t be quick and it will be very inflationary, setting off a new long-term commodity Supercycle. Probably the largest seen so far.

The “New Energy Economy”: An Exercise in Magical Thinking

https://media4.manhattan-institute.org/sites/default/files/R-0319-MM.pdf

Mines, Minerals, and "Green" Energy: A Reality Check

https://www.manhattan-institute.org/mines-minerals-and-green-energy-reality-check

"An Environmental Disaster": An EV Battery Metals Crunch Is On The Horizon As The Industry Races To Recycle

by Tyler Durden Monday, Aug 02, 2021 - 08:40 PM

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/environmental-disaster-ev-battery-metals-crunch-horizon-industry-races-recycle

 

Covid-19 Corner

This section will continue until it becomes unneeded.

COVID SCIENCE-COVID worsens asthma in children; booster after infection not as beneficial vs Omicron

Mon, May 2, 2022, 7:41 PM

May 2 (Reuters) - The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review.

COVID-19 worsens asthma in children

Asthma in children may worsen after an infection with the coronavirus, doctors warn.

They studied nearly 62,000 U.S. children with asthma who had PCR tests for the virus in the first year of the pandemic, including more than 7,700 who tested positive. Infected children had significantly more asthma visits, hospitalizations, emergency inhaler use, and steroid treatments during the six months after their illness compared to children who tested negative and to their own prior history, researchers reported in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice https://www.jaci-inpractice.org/article/S2213-2198(22)00360-9/fulltext. Children who tested negative for the virus "had improved asthma control for the next six months, meaning fewer emergency department visits and hospitalizations for asthma, and less asthma treatment," said Dr. Christine Chou of Children's Health of Orange County, in California.

Results of earlier studies showing improvement in asthma control in the early part of the pandemic were likely due to public health measures like staying home and masking, which curbed exposure to asthma triggers, she said. Despite the overall impression that children with asthma did well during the first year of the pandemic, Chou added, the new study shows "longer lasting harm of COVID on children's asthma control."

Booster after infection adds little extra benefit vs Omicron

Among people who were previously infected with the coronavirus, a third dose of an mRNA vaccine from Pfizer /BioNTech or Moderna may not boost their protection against the Omicron variant of the virus, according to new data.

Researchers studied nearly 130,000 people tested for COVID in Connecticut from November 2021 through January 2022, including 10,676 with Omicron infections. Roughly 6% to 8% had been infected with previous versions of the coronavirus, according to a report posted on medRxiv https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.19.22274056v3 ahead of peer review. Two doses of an mRNA vaccine did help protect against Omicron among people with prior infections, but "we did not detect an additional benefit of receiving a third booster dose among this population," said Margaret Lind of Yale University.

More

https://www.yahoo.com/news/covid-science-covid-worsens-asthma-184102671.html

Next, some vaccine links kindly sent along from a LIR reader in Canada.

NY Times Coronavirus Vaccine Trackerhttps://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html

Regulatory Focus COVID-19 vaccine trackerhttps://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/3/covid-19-vaccine-tracker

Some other useful Covid links.

Johns Hopkins Coronavirus resource centre

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Rt Covid-19

https://rt.live/

Centers for Disease Control Coronavirus

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

The Spectator Covid-19 data tracker (UK)

https://data.spectator.co.uk/city/national

 

Technology Update.

With events happening fast in the development of solar power and graphene, among other things, I’ve added this section. Updates as they get reported.

Applied Graphene Materials new chemical resistant graphene enhanced coatings package

 May 3, 2022   7:11 am

Applied Graphene Materials plc (LON:AGM), the producer of specialty graphene nanoplatelet dispersions, has announced that it has launched a new performance data package demonstrating that its graphene nanoplatelet dispersions product range can achieve high levels of protection from harsh chemicals when used in coatings applications. This opens up a new market for AGM’s products, where higher-performance graphene-enhanced paints and coatings can effectively protect a substrate against chemicals in highly aggressive environments.

Chemical permeation is a major issue in the protective coatings market. Prolonged contact, from full submersion, splashes, spills and fumes, with a range of chemical substances can lead to visual discolouration, gloss reduction, and blistering, all of which can have a negative impact on coating performance. As a result, coatings manufacturers strive to develop surface protection systems that can resist chemicals and protect the substrate from contamination.

In comprehensive testing AGM has now demonstrated superior performance of its graphene nanoplatelet dispersions in a range of immersed chemical applications, from acid to alkali. The highly effective graphene technology performs extremely well compared with conventional materials used in the industry at substantially lower loading levels, enabling the formulator to have far greater flexibility with their products and application scope. Protective coatings with comparable additives are used in a range of industries for applications such as chemical tank linings, linings of pipes for transporting chemicals, floor coatings in chemical environments and structural steelwork coatings. AGM also anticipates that the application could be suitable for composite materials often used in this space.

More

https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/applied-graphene-materials-new-chemical-resistant-graphene-enhanced-coatings-package/4121062829

Finally, thinking the unthinkable.

Yesterday's leak of a Supreme Court draft made me start thinking about the unthinkable.

Clearly someone within the Supreme Court thinks that the end justified the means in trying to delegitimise the USA's highest court. 

To this faraway observer, it is sad and disturbing at the same time. The Supreme Court is  now heavily discredited, politicised and probably soon to be paranoid. Welcome to America 2022, I suppose. But what if others are so similarly disloyal as to use that same ends justifies the means rational?

If someone in the deep state-alphabet soup thinks the end justifies the means to run a false flag operation in Ukraine/NATO to trigger a direct war with Russia, gambling that Russia is not insane enough to go nuclear, but even if ordered no one will carry out the command. It's now or never time to end Russia as we know it and end their nukes forever.   I think that logic is deeply flawed. 

If such disloyalty lurks in the Supreme Court in modern America due to the state of modern politics, it seems to me the same reasoning will have permeated far and wide.

Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.

John Kenneth Galbraith.

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