By Benjamin Hart
Ben Bernanke on the response to inflation – Search (bing.com)
Former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke on Inflation – Search (bing.com)
Musk and Bezos Agree on Who Is Responsible for Inflation (msn.com)
Jeff Bezos steps up feud with the White House over inflation, arguing prices would rise even higher if Biden’s economic agenda passed (msn.com)
Ben Bernanke helped the U.S. recover after 2008 and now sees huge warning signs on inflation, stagflation and student debt (msn.com)
Biden just unveiled a new plan to make housing more affordable as Congress dithers on their economic agenda (msn.com)
U.S. COVID cases at highest levels since November, while Northeast and Midwest are above delta peak (msn.com)
Covid Cases Highest Rates in High Vaccine Areas
Ohio COVID-19 Map: Tracking the Trends (mayoclinic.org)
Massachusetts high gas prices keep hitting records every day: ‘We may be in the worst of it’ (msn.com)
Inflation is the ‘top problem’ facing America, with no other issue coming close, survey shows (msn.com)
Capitalism Is to Blame for How Quickly US COVID Deaths Reached 1 Million – Search
People blown away by a mind trick that stops your thoughts – to tackle overthinking
She’s been pushing for student loan forgiveness for a decade. Now it could happen
How much COVID is in your county? New CDC data shows local spread of BA.2
Virus Experts Issue Warning to People Over 50: ‘We Really Should Be Worried’
You could build a case that the recession’s already started, says David Rosenberg
Kudlow: Biden’s woke economics are being rejected by the American public (msn.com)
Recession will be longer and deeper than most people believe – Search (bing.com)
Pete Buttigieg told baby formula shortage ‘lie’: Rep. Kat Cammack (msn.com)
Why living up to 130 years of age is a ‘reasonable’ proposition (msn.com)
Biden Administration And Jeff Bezos Square Off Over Inflation (msn.com)
What the end of Title 42 means for the U.S. border (msn.com)
There’s no relief in sight for high gas prices (msn.com)
New virus, new Covid-19 wave (msn.com)
Less than six months out from the midterms, Democrats are facing a brutal election environment thanks in part to inflation, general malaise, and the usual desire by fickle Americans to punish the party they put in power two years prior. New polling numbers emphasize the challenge the party is facing. An NBC survey released on Monday found the Democratic Party with a favorability rating of -19.
That was lower than any other person or entity surveyed, including the Republican Party (-11), Vice-President Kamala Harris (-17), and Donald Trump (-16). (Rats and roaches were not included in the poll, so it’s impossible to say if they’re more popular than Democrats.) The party could only dream of matching Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who drew the approval of 62 percent of respondents and the disapproval of only 9 percent.
The numbers match downbeat assessments elsewhere. Democratic favorability has dropped precipitously since last fall, a HuffPost Pollster average shows, and is now averaging about -11.6 percent. Democrats trail on most polls of the generic congressional ballot — though, on average, by only 2.5 points, per FiveThirtyEight’s polling aggregator. The party got more bad news on Monday, with redrawn New York congressional maps erasing much of its advantage there.
The most important number to watch in any midterm is presidential approval, and there’s no comfort for Dems in that department, either. FiveThirtyEight has President Biden’s numbers stuck in the low 40s — very similar to where Trump was at this point in his tenure, months before Democrats gained 41 seats and took back the House.
Economist Warns: “New ‘Normal’ will be Stranger, More Extreme”
Something strange is happening behind the scenes in our financial system.
Right now, the mainstream media is completely ignoring what might be the
most important story in the financial world that nobody is talking about.
The Pendulum is Going to Tip – Bing video
Amid the distractions caused by conflicts overseas, shortages, and inflation, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently took the stage at an event called COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland to address some of the world’s most powerful people, including:
U.S. President…
British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson…
Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau…
French President, Emmanuel Macron…
… and many more…
From the stage, Yellen called for world leaders to commit to a $150 trillion ‘global transition’ of our economy.
Since then, Bank of America has committed, along with 131 countries, 234 cities, and 695 of the world’s biggest companies. Several billionaires, led by Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, have invested in this ‘transformation’ as well.
And what does it mean for your money?
While the mainstream media is completely ignoring what might be the most important story in the financial world that nobody is talking about… Investigative journalist and renowned economist, Nomi Prins.
Who predicted the 2008 market meltdown has followed the money… And what she’s discovered is startling. It has nothing to do with a market crash… a new reserve currency… or the end of fiat.
Prins says: While most Americans are distracted by mainstream media headlines,
I’ve found evidence the elites are spending $150 trillion to ‘transform’ our economy
into something we didn’t vote on… didn’t ask for… and very few are prepared for.
In essence, we’re about to see a stranger, more extreme ‘new normal’ in America.
Most people will be shocked when they see what happens in the months ahead”
Prins considers this transformation so urgent; she has agreed to sit down for an
interview to get her message in front of as many Americans as possible.
For now, there’s no cost to watch. Rogue Economics
Click here to see how this ‘transformation’ could affect you – and find out what it means for your money.
Nomi Prins, Investigative Journalist – Bing video
https://secure.rogueeconomics.com/
EVs require more energy to build, but they are far more efficient to operate.
ROBERTO BALDWIN – 4/28/2022
New EV vs. old beater: Which is better for the environment?
Earth Day was April 22, and its usual message—take care of our planet—has been given added urgency by the challenges highlighted in the latest IPCC report. This year, Ars is taking a look at the technologies we normally cover, from cars to chipmaking, and finding out how we can boost their sustainability and minimize their climate impact.
For many people, buying an electric vehicle puts a stake in the ground—if I’m going to drive around town, I’m going to do it while reducing my carbon footprint.
“Gone are the days of burning toxic gasoline. A new age of electrons and instant torque is upon us,” you might say, standing next to your new vehicle and blue recycling bin.
But as with traditional vehicles, not all EVs are equal in terms of their impact on the world. A quick look at the specs and sheer size of the new GMC Hummer EV is all you need to understand where some automakers are willing to take the powertrain—and it’s not in service of efficiency.
Not all EPA testing is equal.
If you want to determine which EVs are the most efficient, a good place to start is the Environmental Protection Agency’s fuel consumption ratings. The EPA lists electric vehicles based on the amount of energy they use to travel 100 miles, and the lower the number of kilowatt-hours of electricity used, the more efficient the vehicle is.
For example, according to the EPA, the 2022 Tesla Model 3 RWD uses 25 kWh per
100 miles traveled, while the 2022 Audi e-tron S (with 21- or 22-inch wheels) uses a less-efficient 52 kWh per 100 miles traveled. (Note that larger wheels typically reduce the range of a vehicle.)
For the model year 2022, these are the top five most efficient vehicles for sale right now based on the EPA’s measurement of energy used per 100 miles:
2022 Tesla Model 3 RWD: 25 kWh
2022 Lucid Air Grand Touring: 26 kWh
2022 Chevy Bolt: 28 kWh
2022 Hyundai Kona Electric: 28 kWh
2022 Tesla Model S: 28 kWh
The Top 10 finishers were the Model Y, Bolt EUV, Kia EV6, Hyundai Ioniq 5, and finally, the Kia Niro, all of which posted 30 kWh of energy usage per 100 miles or lower.
These are impressive numbers, but there’s something else to take into consideration—namely, the adjustment factor used to determine EPA range data. To get these numbers, all EVs are strapped to dynamometers (like a treadmill for cars) and run until their battery is depleted. It’s not quite a real-world test, as the vehicles don’t have to deal with changing elevations, wind, asphalt discrepancies, and all the various other issues they would encounter on actual roads.
To make matters a bit more complicated, some automakers take the EPA’s 30 percent adjustment factor. For example, if a vehicle travels 500 miles on the dynamometer, the automaker takes a 30 percent hit, which reduces that range by 150 miles, giving you 350 miles of range on the EPA cycle. It’s the method used by Hyundai, Kia, and GM. Tesla and Lucid do something different. They perform additional runs on the dynamometer and are allowed to use those results to produce better adjustment factors. Those numbers help bump their range numbers up.
So while the EVs listed above are certainly efficient, they’re not all being tested in the same way, and that can result in discrepancies.
Factory impact
As automakers are transitioning to battery-electric vehicles, they’re also touting their current or eventual carbon-neutral factories. A cleaner factory results in a cleaner vehicle coming off the line. It’s a commendable plan, but for many manufacturers, it’s a promise that hasn’t quite been implemented yet. Tesla seems to have the most difficulty in this area at its Fremont, California, factory, where it produces all the vehicles it sells in the United States.
In February 2022, the automaker settled with the EPA over Clean Air Act violations spanning from 2016 through 2019. In 2019, the company was fined by the EPA for hazardous waste violations, and in May of 2021, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District fined the company $1 million for violations, including exceeding its permitted emissions. The Lucid Air is built at the company’s new Arizona factory. The 500-acre property in Casa Grande, Arizona, spun up in the fall of 2021, but the company hasn’t yet announced any carbon-neutral or energy-reducing initiatives at the plant.
The Kia EV6 is built in Hwaseong, Korea, and Kia announced that it has improved the handling of chemicals and is moving to alternative products for the production of vehicles at the plant. Meanwhile, Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 and Kona Electric are both built at Ulsan Plant 1 in South Korea. The company announced that it plans to make all locations carbon neutral and run on 100 percent renewable power by 2045. That’s a long way off.
Finally, the Chevy Bolt and Bolt EUV are both built at the Orion plant in Michigan, which uses landfill gas to power the plant. Other manufacturers are doing better, though. While the Porsche Taycan isn’t on the top 10 list, the company’s Zuffenhausen factory is carbon neutral, and all electricity comes from renewable sources. So it’s possible for an automaker to hit its factory efficiency goals; it just might take longer for some to do so.
Porsche had a complicated job to upgrade Zuffenhausen to begin production of the Taycan, but it succeeded, and the car’s production is carbon neutral.
Wherever they’re built, there’s one thing EVs can’t escape: They have a larger manufacturing footprint than that of comparable gas-powered vehicles. This fact has become ammunition for those eager to argue that EVs are just as bad for the environment as gas-powered vehicles. The idea is right up there with the myth that the United States is powered almost entirely by coal and that EVs are thus worse polluters than gas engines. The reality is that coal makes up about 20 to 22 percent of the national power grid.
Still, the amount of energy and resources needed to build an EV exceed those of a gas car. But once both vehicles are on the road, the carbon footprint immediately begins to narrow.
According to a recent Reuters article using a model developed by the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, the point at which an EV’s carbon footprint meets and begins to fall below that of a comparable gas vehicle in the United States is at around 13,500 miles.
So after an average year of driving, the EV is better for the environment. Beyond that, the gap widens. This data is based on the national average of the electrical grid’s energy sources. Your situation may vary depending on what types of power stations feed your area’s electrical needs; for more localized information, the Union of Concerned Scientists has an online tool that lets you check how clean an EV is in your zip code compared to a vehicle that gets the mid-sized vehicle average of 29 miles per gallon.
EV or your old car
Of course, buying a new or used car right now isn’t easy. Prices have skyrocketed, and many dealers are adding ludicrous markups that were previously only found on low-production, high-performance vehicles. Hopefully, prices will come back down to normal, and more options will be available in the future. But right now, strictly considering cost, it may be better to keep your older gas-powered vehicle, especially if it’s paid off. EVs are still relatively expensive, even with federal tax credits.
But if you’re more concerned about your carbon footprint than cost, there are some quick calculations we can do. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, in 2021, the average age of a car on the road was 12.1 years. So let’s go back in time 12 years to 2010. Per EPA data reported by The New York Times, the average miles per gallon for 2010 was roughly 22.5 miles per gallon. According to the EPA, an average vehicle that gets 22 miles per gallon emits 404 grams of CO2 per mile.
Let’s say the vehicle travels 10,000 miles per year. That’s 4,040,000 grams (or 8,907 pounds) of CO2 making its way into the world each year. On the EV front, let’s look at the Chevy Bolt or Hyundai Kona since they are the least expensive of the top five vehicles, starting at $31,500 and $34,000, respectively. According to the EPA, both emit 130 grams of CO2 per mile, based on the average US electricity mix. After 10,000 miles, that’s 1,300,000 grams (or 2,866 pounds) of CO2 per year.
Tesla Model Y: True Cost Of Ownership After 2 Years (msn.com)
Per year, the EV produces roughly 6,041 pounds less CO2 than the 2010 vehicle.
As far as manufacturing goes, the old car is already built, so let’s give it a pass regarding its manufacturing carbon footprint. According to a 2015 Union of Concerned Scientists report, a full-size long-range (265 miles) vehicle had a carbon footprint of about six tons, or 12,000 pounds.
In two years, the EV will have caught up to the used car in terms of ecological footprint. After that, as with new gas cars, an EV surpasses it in efficiency for its entire life cycle. So the only real issue at this point is cost. EVs are still out of reach for those who can’t afford to drop $30,000 on a vehicle, even with federal tax credits. But if the recent uptick in EV sales due to the jump in gas prices continues, the economies of scale might yield some EVs that will make the daily commute better for the environment without breaking the bank.
Biden calls out ‘MAGA crowd’ for being ‘most extreme’ political group in recent US history (USA TODAY) – Bing video
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently took the stage at an event called COP26 in Glasgow, – Bing video
Meet the Socialist Workers Party candidate running in California to be a US senator
2020 Migration Trends: U-Haul Ranks 50 States by Migration Growth | U-Haul (uhaul.com)
Kim Jong Un mobilizes North Korea’s military in response to Covid-19 outbreak
Bloomberg op-ed states the Federal Reserve likely expects a recession (msn.com)
Oil billionaire says Biden’s ‘failed policies on energy are not working’ (msn.com)
Hidden cameras reveal dark side of solar power (fox5atlanta.com)
The Real Reason Time Seems To Move Faster As You Age (msn.com)
What Missouri’s immigrant population looked like in 1900 – Newsbreak
US deaths from COVID hit 1 million, less than 2 1/2 years in (msn.com)
What if Democrats had made the economy even worse? (msn.com)
What shape might the next recession take – Search (bing.com)
Why is the Catholic Church against abortion? (aleteia.org)
“$150 trillion to ‘transform’ our economy into something we didn’t vote on… didn’t ask for… and very few are prepared for.” – The Legacy Report
Kim Kardashian reveals exactly which outfit she styled that prompted Kanye West to say her career was over (msn.com)
‘Very, very high’ risk of recession, warns Goldman’s Lloyd Blankfein as bank cuts U.S. growth forecast (msn.com)
‘We are the last generation’: China’s harsh lockdowns could exacerbate population crisis
Biden to tackle affordable housing, aiming to close gap in housing supply in 5 years
U.S. stock futures wobble as weak China data fuels more global recession worries
Biden has the perfect new enemy: Jeff Bezos (msn.com)
Is Russia headed for a return to Stalinism? (msn.com)
The fight for control of the U.S. Senate (msn.com)
New virus, new Covid-19 wave (msn.com)
BONUS:
Why You DON’T Want a Pendulum Putting Stroke | 36/64 Rule – Bing video
Putting is NOT a Pendulum Motion (Golf Putting Lessons) – Bing video
HOW TO CREATE A PENDULUM WHEN PUTTING – Bing video
Possibly the BEST Driver Swing Tip EVER! – Bing video
Possibly the BEST Driver Swing Tip EVER! – YouTube
Pendulum Putting – Bing video