Zero Hedge

Putin Unveils Dramatic Reshuffling Of Closest Advisors: Shoigu Out As Defense Minister

Putin Unveils Dramatic Reshuffling Of Closest Advisors: Shoigu Out As Defense Minister

Russian state media is confirming a huge breaking development that President Putin has removed his longtime Defense Minister and personal friend Sergei Shoigu as defense chief, who has overseen the Ukraine war since its beginning in Feb. 2022. He will now serve as head of the nation's security council.

"Sergei Shoigu is likely to lose the post of Minister of Defense of Russia to acting First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov," English-language RT is reporting. "His candidacy was proposed by President Vladimir Putin, the Federation Council announced on Sunday."

Putin has also reportedly dismissed Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, according to Interfax.

This appears in order to shuffle Shoigu into that position. Putin has now appointed Shoigu as new Secretary of the Russian Security Council. Likely Patrushev is also being moved to another position too.

The proposed candidate for new defense chief, Belousov, has a background in Russia's central bank and economics and finance...

Below is some background on Belousov and his last two decades of government experience, though specific military decision-making or army experience on a strategic level appears to be absent, interestingly:

2000‒2006: General Director, Centre for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term Forecasting.

2000‒2006: External adviser to the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.

2006‒2008: Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Deputy Minister of Economic Development.

2008‒2012: Director, Government Department of Economy and Finance.

2012‒2013: Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

2013‒2020: Presidential Aide.

21 January 2020: First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, appointed by executive order of the President of Russia.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov addressed this lack of military experience as follows in a late Sunday press briefing:

Explaining Shoigu's replacement with a non-military official, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was "natural" for Putin to decide that a civilian official to head the Defense Ministry.

"The Defense Ministry must be absolutely open to innovation, to introduce advanced ideas and to create conditions for economic competitiveness — that’s why the president chose the candidacy of Andrei Removich Belousov," Peskov told reporters.

According to more details of Putin's big reshuffling via RT:

Senators are scheduled to engage in consultations regarding the nominees put forth by the president during committee sessions on May 13 and during a Federation Council meeting on May 14, as announced by the upper house of the Russian parliament.

No further alterations have been made to the roster of candidates Putin has submitted for cabinet positions. His nominations include Vladimir Kolokoltsev for the position of interior minister, Alexander Kurenkov for minister of emergency situations, Sergey Lavrov for foreign minister, and Konstantin Chuichenko for justice minister.

Denis Manturov, who served as deputy prime minister and head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade during Putin’s last term in office, has been nominated for the position of first deputy prime minister.

And TASS has this further confirmation and backgrounder on Belousov (machine translation)...

"Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed the candidacy of Andrei Belousov for the post of Minister of Defense, which was previously held by Sergei Shoigu. This is stated in a message on the Telegram channel of the Federation Council. In the previous government, Belousov worked as first deputy prime minister."

"65-year-old Belousov at various times held the positions of assistant to the head of state Vladimir Putin on economic issues, Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, director of the Department of Economics and Finance of the Government of the Russian Federation, general director of the Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term Forecasting, and worked at the Russian Academy in 1981-2006 Sciences (until 1991 - USSR Academy of Sciences). From April 30 to May 19, 2020, during Mishustin’s hospitalization with coronavirus infection, Belousov served as acting head of the Cabinet."

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/12/2024 - 14:44

US Is Offering Israel A Strange Incentive To Hold Off Rafah Offensive

US Is Offering Israel A Strange Incentive To Hold Off Rafah Offensive

Over the weekend The Washington Post has reported a strange incentive and quid pro quo that the US is offering Israel if it agrees to hold off on the Rafah offensive. 

The Biden administration is ready to hand over to Israel "sensitive intelligence" on the whereabouts of top Hamas leaders. The Washington Post cited four unnamed sources as saying the US "is offering Israel valuable assistance if it holds back, including sensitive intelligence to help the Israeli military pinpoint the location of Hamas leaders and find the group’s hidden tunnels."

The 'offer' is bizarre and somewhat unprecedented given one would think that Washington's aim alongside Israel would be to dismantle a designated terror organization and ultimately bring down its top leadership. 

But instead this is apparently being dangled like a carrot. Washington is holding out hopes that a ceasefire deal can be accomplished with Qatari and Egyptian mediation, but that still appears to be going nowhere. A full-scale Rafah assault is likely to put an end to Hamas-Israel talks, at least for the near future.

According to more of the 'incentives' for Israel to abandon its Rafah ground offensive: "American officials have also offered to help provide thousands of shelters so Israel can build tent cities — and to help with the construction of delivery systems for food, water and medicine — so that Palestinians evacuated from Rafah can have a habitable place to live, said the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to disclose secret diplomatic talks," WaPo writes.

"President Biden and his senior aides have been making such offers over the last several weeks in hopes they will persuade Israel to conduct a more limited and targeted operation in the southern Gaza city," the report continues.

Separately, public comments made by White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby during a Thursday briefing appeared to confirm the Post's reporting.

Kirby had said, "We could also, in fact, help them target the leaders, including [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar, which we are, frankly, doing with the Israelis on an ongoing basis."

Part of the White House's plan is to first get the bulk of Rafah civilians—which have been widely reported to be at over one million Palestinians—safely removed and evacuated before major fighting begins. But the main question echoed by almost all is: where will they go?

"The aid community generally is very skeptical there’s any safe way to relocate people out of Rafah," Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International, was quoted in The Washington Post as saying.

It of course remains unknown the degree to which US intelligence actually has more info on Hamas leaders' whereabouts compared to Israeli intelligence.

Presumably such intel would come through intercepted communications, or perhaps even a human source that had infiltrated Hamas. However, it's highly doubtful the US has its own intelligence officers on the ground - other than possibly those working alongside IDF forces.

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/12/2024 - 14:20

Alvin Bragg's Office Deleted Phone Call Records Of Michael Cohen And Stormy Daniels' Lawyer

Alvin Bragg's Office Deleted Phone Call Records Of Michael Cohen And Stormy Daniels' Lawyer

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A paralegal from Manhattan Attorney General Alvin Bragg’s office testified on Friday during former President Donald Trump’s “hush money” trial that some phone call records between Michael Cohen and Stephanie Clifford’s (a.k.a. Stormy Daniels) lawyer were deleted, raising questions about evidentiary integrity.

In a bid to challenge some of the evidence being put forward in President Trump’s business records falsification trial in Manhattan, Trump attorney Emil Bove asked paralegal Jaden Jarmel-Schneider in court on May 10 about roughly three pages worth of records that the attorney claimed Mr. Bragg’s office had deleted.

Mr. Jarmel-Schneider confirmed some deletions. He acknowledged that some phone call records from 2018 between Mr. Cohen and Keith Davidson (Ms. Clifford’s lawyer) had been deleted, along with some records of conversations between Ms. Clifford’s manager Gina Rodriguez and then-National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard about Ms. Clifford’s claim that she had an affair with President Trump.

The Trump attorney alleged that the deletions were “significant,” prompting Mr. Jarmel-Schneider to dispute that characterization, though he acknowledged that some of the records had indeed been deleted.

Prosecutors have submitted the call records into evidence in a bid to bolster their case that the alleged affair—which President Trump has denied—took place and that the former president falsified business records to conceal payments allegedly made to Ms. Clifford to stay silent.

President Trump has denied any wrongdoing and maintains the case is a politically motivated bid to undermine his 2024 presidential campaign.

The fact that prosecutors submitted the call records into evidence but didn’t tell the Trump defense team that some of them had been deleted raises questions about the integrity of the proceedings, according to Trump attorneys, and others.

“Insanity! How on earth is this not a felony committed by Bragg and his minions? It sure would be if team Trump did it,” the former president’s eldest son, Don Trump Jr., said in a post on X.

Mr. Trump Jr. was presumably referring to the fact that evidence tampering is a class E felony in the state of New York.

Mr. Bragg’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the deleted records.

The development comes at the tail end of an intense week that saw President Trump subjected to gag order sanctions, two failed attempts by the defense team to have a mistrial declared, and Ms. Clifford taking the stand.

Mr. Cohen is expected to take the stand next week.

Trial End in Sight

After four weeks in court, prosecutors signaled that the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president will be coming to an end.

Jurors will soon have to decide whether prosecutors have proved beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump was involved in falsifying business records as part of a scheme to influence the 2016 election.

President Trump was charged by Mr. Bragg with 34 counts of falsifying business records. Typically, this is a misdemeanor charge, but in this case prosecutors allege the records were falsified to cover up a scheme to influence the 2016 election and therefore amounts to a felony.

A number of legal experts have challenged the way Mr. Bragg elevated the misdemeanor into a felony. This includes retired Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, who argued that Mr. Bragg was operating on an invalid legal premise because he invoked federal statutes over which New York has no jurisdiction.

Mr. Dershowitz also recently said that he believes that Mr. Bragg’s office has violated voters’ rights with the Trump prosecution, with the legal scholar arguing that the case amounts to a criminal conspiracy to influence elections.

Prosecuting attorney Joshua Steinglass said Friday that prosecutors plan to call just two more witnesses and that it’s “entirely possible” that the prosecution will rest its case at the end of next week.

Mr. Cohen, [a total liar] who is set to testify next week, made the original claims that led to the case. Specifically, the allegation of falsified business records pertains to 11 checks Mr. Cohen received and their corresponding invoices and vouchers.

The defense team says that Mr. Cohen was paid attorney’s fees, while prosecutors allege that the legal expense categorization of the payments was fraudulent in order to cover up that they were meant to buy Ms. Clifford’s silence about the alleged affair.

Ms. Clifford testified over the course of two days, with attorneys and the judge expressing some frustration that she frequently responded to questions with commentary that did not directly answer the question.

Defense attorneys moved for a mistrial, arguing that her statements were “extremely prejudicial” and would improperly influence the jury.

The judge denied that motion.

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/12/2024 - 13:45

Goldman Asks: "Might This Be A Monetary Juncture Akin To 1995 Or 2011" 

Goldman Asks: "Might This Be A Monetary Juncture Akin To 1995 Or 2011" 

In a client note on Friday, Goldman's Mark Wilson commented on the money supply (M2) growth, which has noticeably turned upward following the most significant crash since the Great Depression. He questions if this is an inflection point in a "monetary juncture akin to 1995 or 2011." 

"Although we may be 12 months past the inflection in M2, the historic analog of that chart does pose the interesting macro question of might this indeed be a monetary juncture akin to 1995 or 2011," Wilson wrote. 

M2% Y-o-Y chart via Wilson's note:

As a reminder, the complete disinflation trend followed the M2 growth slump and really should've fallen faster if deficit spending wasn't so out of control. The latest CPI bounce comes after the money supply bottomed about one year ago and, of course, rising deficits, with the federal government spending $1 trillion every 100 days. 

On a separate note, Tressis chief economist Daniel Lacalle recently pointed out, "The massive deficit means more taxes, more inflation, and lower growth in the future," adding, "Deficits are not a tool for growth; they are tools for stagnation." 

Ahead of next week's April CPI print, we outlined to pro-subs on Friday that traders should expect a "downside surprise" as the lagging OER "crashes" and catches up with real-time metrics. 

However, we'll leave you with this from Dohmen Capital Research: "The Fed is being forced to step on the accelerator to enable the financing of the record deficits at the US Treasury. They know that is inflationary, but they have no alternative." 

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/12/2024 - 13:10

The Davos Class Is Desperate

The Davos Class Is Desperate

Authored by Marty Bent via bombthrower.com,

One of Davos’ favorite front men, Yuval Noah Harari, joined the BIS Innovation Summit earlier this week to spread some laughable anti-bitcoin propaganda.

During his chat, Harari opined that “as a historian” he does not like bitcoin because it is a “currency based on distrust”. Here’s exactly what he said:

When I look at bitcoin as a historian I don’t like it because this is a money built on distrust. The central idea of bitcoin is basically electronic gold, that we don’t trust the banks, the governments so we don’t want to give them the ability to create as much money as they like. So we create this bitcoin. It’s a currency of distrust.

I do think that the future belongs to electronic money, but what we’ve seen over the last centuries is that it is actually a good idea to give banks and governments the ability to create more and more money in order to build more trust within society. So, I’m not sure what money would look like in 20 years or 30 years, but I hope that it would be a currency of greater trust and not a currency of distrust. -Yuval Noah Harari, famed Malthusian Nihilist and mediocre author

Wow. This is what we in the psy-op world like to call “gaslighting”. It’s a tactic used to make someone believe something that is totally false and most likely never happened is actually true. When it comes to Harari’s specific comments on the history of humanity he is attempting to gaslight people into believing that giving governments and central banks the ability to “create more and more money in order to build trust within society” has actually happened. Nothing could be further from the truth and one only needs the ability to pick their head up from their phone, look around at the state of the world and recall four years of history to refute this objectively insane point of view.

Do you all remember when a majority of the world’s governments banded together to shut down the global economy while flooding the global economy with TRILLIONS of dollars of liquidity? I think we can all agree that this was most likely the most extreme example of central planning on the political and monetary fronts that the world has ever seen. If we are to follow Harari’s logic that this level of coordination and central control over the monetary system, one would have to be able to look out at the world right now and confidently say that collective trust in governments and banking institutions by the people is at an all time high.

Clearly, this is not the case. In fact, the exact opposite is true. Trust in political and financial institutions is as low as it has ever been. The Common Man is suffering under the weight of price inflation and is beginning to question the validity of government spending programs. Particularly here in the US. The geopolitical landscape is shifting toward a multi-polar world as large governments are finding it impossible to trust each other. This increasing distrust is being driven by the fact that some governments used their “trusted” control over the international monetary system to freeze the assets of a sovereign nation. We don’t even have to mention the bail out of the banks during the Great Financial Crisis, the forever wars in the Middle East, or the silencing of the whistleblowers who tried to make people aware that their governments cannot be trusted. Harari is either completely disconnected from reality or being completely disingenuous. I have a feeling it’s most likely the latter.

This particular line of thinking shouldn’t be surprising coming from Harari and the fact that he said this at a digital summit thrown by the Bank for International Settlements should be even less surprising. The BIS is the top borg bank that would like to cattle herd the world into a digital panopticon that runs on a CBDC that can be granularly controlled by “trusted banks and governments”. Bitcoin is, quite literally, the biggest threat to their existence because it enables individuals to opt-out of a system dependent on trusting central planners.

Trying to tap into people’s emotions by framing the discussion of “electronic money” myopically and attempting to reduce the decision making process to a knee jerk reaction based on the connotation of the juxtaposition of “distrust v. trust” is truly some lowest denominator argumentation. One would have to truly believe that most people are not only dumb, but extremely dumb.

“Distrust in government bad. Trust in government good. Therefore, government controlling money good.” Caveman shit.

Luckily for us, no one is buying Harari’s BS and Satoshi Nakamoto designed bitcoin in a way that allows us to break free from the madness of trusting governments and central banks. As he pointed out in February of 2009, the history of currencies is littered with breaches of trust by governments and central banks. Trusting these entities with the power to issue currency has proven to be catastrophic for whole societies. Trust needs to be completely removed from the process by leveraging a system that cannot be controlled by any individual, group, company or government and that is what bitcoin brings to the world. Individuals shouldn’t have to trust anyone but themselves to know what’s going on with their money. “Don’t trust, verify” is the ethos that bitcoin embodies and empowers individuals with. It’s a beautiful thing and it scares the ever living shit out of the Harari’s of the world.

The Davos class is desperate and scared, as is evidenced by the nonsensical assertion put forth by Harari earlier this week. This should encourage you. Lean in. They know their losing the narrative battle.

We’re going to win.

*  *  *

Follow Marty Bent on Twitter and subscribe via Tftc.io.

The CBDC Survival Guide will give you the tools and the knowledge to navigate coming era of Monetary Apartheid. Bombthrower subscribers will get free when it drops (and The Crypto Capitalist Manifesto while you wait), sign up today.

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/12/2024 - 12:35

Big Oil Has Flourished, Despite Biden's Best Efforts, And Will Back Trump In 2024

Big Oil Has Flourished, Despite Biden's Best Efforts, And Will Back Trump In 2024

“It’s death by 1,000 cuts. It’s the worst presidency with regard to energy policy I’ve ever seen — and I’ve been involved in energy for 40 years, my entire career.”

Those were the words of Steve Pruett, chief executive of Elevation Resources, to Financial Times last week, talking about how the Biden Administration has gone out of its way to make life difficult for the energy sector. 

After the deregulation seen during Donald Trump's presidency, a tailwind for the sector, President Biden has prioritized tackling climate change and promised to regulate the oil and gas sectors more tightly.

His administration has introduced a range of environmental regulations, including endangered species protections, methane leak controls, and limits on offshore leasing and new licenses for liquefying and exporting American gas. All the while he has been draining the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve while trying to cover up the tracks of inflation that is spinning out of control under his watch. 

While many Democratic voters see these regulations as necessary, they have certainly rendered Biden unpopular in Midland, Texas, FT writes.

Midland lies at the core of the Permian Basin, which produces over 6.1 million barrels of oil a day—more than some OPEC nations—positioning the US as the largest oil producer globally.

FT notes that with the presidential election six months away, energy policy is a major divide between Biden and Trump. Despite Biden's best efforts, U.S. oil production has soared to record levels, over 13 million barrels per day, boosted by commodity price increases following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Investors have seen substantial returns, with ExxonMobil shares - one of our favorite investments we have been touting for years - doubling since Biden's inauguration.

Nonetheless, industry insiders believe these achievements have happened despite White House policies, not because of them, and fear further regulations could harm the sector long-term.

Stephen Robertson, executive vice-president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association commented: “In Biden’s campaign to become president, he said he was going to end the oil and gas industry — he is doing that.”

“There have been over 200 actions taken by this administration opposed to the oil and gas industry. There’s not one of these that will be the end of the industry . . . but there’s going to be a straw that breaks the camel’s back.”

Biden said while campaigning in 2020: “The oil industry pollutes significantly. It has to be replaced by renewable energy over time.”

In 2024, the oil industry will be behind Trump. FT notes that Pennsylvania, a key swing state and the second-largest shale gas producer in the U.S. after Texas, plays a crucial role in presidential elections. Trump won the state in 2016, but Biden narrowly took it in 2020.

Biden's suspension of new LNG permits has been unpopular in Pennsylvania, where the oil and gas sector employs around 80,000 people. Trump, promising to reverse this policy, was met with strong support at a recent rally in the swing state.

Even local Democrats, including Governor Josh Shapiro, a Biden ally, have opposed the freeze and urged its repeal.

Alexandra Adams at the National Resources Defense Council, a non-profit added: “From day one, the Biden administration has made a strong commitment to addressing climate change.”

But Biden's energy policies, aiming to reduce oil and gas pollution, have sparked significant opposition from the industry, which fears these measures will limit future U.S. production and energy security.

This conflict intensified as Biden took actions like suspending new LNG terminal licenses and restricting offshore drilling, despite oil and gas production reaching record highs under his administration. Industry stakeholders argue these regulations threaten investments and job stability, particularly affecting smaller companies that cannot easily absorb new costs.

Now, as election tensions rise, the industry is heavily funding campaigns advocating for fewer restrictions and promoting fossil fuel reliance, signaling deep concerns about the potential impacts of continued regulatory changes.

Harold Hamm, founder of Continental Resources told Financial Times: “We have what we call punitive regulation and punitive policy that has been brought about by this administration.”

Mike Sommers, head of the American Petroleum Institute concluded: “We need predictability. And when governments change rules at the drop of a hat without much consultation that sends a signal that if you’re going to invest in that place your investment may be at risk.”

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/12/2024 - 12:00

Every Four Years, Overeager Young Journalists Attempt To Trap Powell In A Jack Nicholson Moment

Every Four Years, Overeager Young Journalists Attempt To Trap Powell In A Jack Nicholson Moment

By Eric Peters, CIO of One River Asset Management

“We’re always going to do what we think is the right thing for the economy,” said Jerome Powell, annoyed, but classy as always.

“It’s hard enough to get the economics right here,” he explained, swatting away the pesky reporter with a bit of false modesty.

Every four years, overeager young journalists attempt to get the Fed Chairman to admit the institution is influenced by presidential politics. They long for their moment of glory, a hero-nerd’s version of the “You can’t handle the truth” interrogation of Jack Nicholson by Tom Cruise in A Few Good.

“This is my fourth presidential election here,” said Powell. “Read all the transcripts and see if anybody mentions in any way the pending election,” he said, as if that matters.

Everyone in Washington is obsessed by the election. And from what I hear, nearly all are as determined to do everything possible to deny Trump a second term, as they are repulsed by the Democrat’s inexplicable failure to replace Biden on their ticket.

The Federal Reserve’s twelve voting members are just as capable of weighing the effect of their decisions on the election without explicitly mentioning it, as they are at considering the impact of US monetary policy on the Bank of Japan’s increasingly tenuous situation without talking about it directly.

So, for instance, the Bank of Japan intervened massively this week to stem the yen’s collapse, and this quite obviously was on Powell’s mind when he reassured markets that the Fed is not considering further rate hikes, which would intensify downward pressure on the yen.

A disorderly decline in the yen would force the Bank of Japan to hike rates substantially, which would cause utter havoc in global stock and bond markets.

The Fed will do whatever necessary to prevent this ahead of November’s election. And a stock market crash this autumn would pressure Powell to slash rates, but he really can’t with US inflation on the rise.

And this quandary would itself cause market panic. But you see, no one need discuss any of this in a Fed meeting, because everyone but overeager young journalists already knows it. 

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/12/2024 - 11:25

Baltic NATO Country Says It's Ready To Send Troops To Ukraine

Baltic NATO Country Says It's Ready To Send Troops To Ukraine

A Baltic NATO country has belatedly jumped on board and backed French President Emmanuel Macron's idea of putting Western boots on the ground in Ukraine.

Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė said in an interview with the Financial Times this week that her country is prepared to deploy troops inside Ukraine. She stipulated it could be part of a training mission for Ukrainian troops if called upon.

However, a formal request from Kiev has not been made yet, she said. Šimonytė then admitted, "If we just thought about the Russian response, then we could not send anything."

"Every second week you hear that somebody will be nuked." Thus she appeared to openly admit that the consequences would likely be catastrophic and lead to WW3, even while saying Lithuania is open to the possibility.

"Russia is trying to provoke a new wave of people fleeing Ukraine because there are no basic utilities and no basic services," Šimonytė described of the current situation of unrelenting Russian attacks on the country's energy infrastructure.

Her words follow Macron telling the The Economist last week that NATO allies would "legitimately" have to consider sending troops to defend Ukraine in the scenario that Russian forces break through the front lines. Yet that already appears to be happening in the north, in Kharkiv region, where Russia has launched a rare cross-border offensive.

"Russia launched a new wave of counteroffensive actions... Ukraine met them there with our troops, brigades, and artillery," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed Friday. "Now there is a fierce battle underway."

The AFP has written, "If Moscow's advances are confirmed, it would represent the Russian military's largest land operation in the region since sending thousands of troops across the border in February 2022."

Last month, Germany sent an advance team of 20 soldiers to Lithuania, laying the groundwork for the recently discussed establishment of a permanent brigade in the NATO country.

You will find more infographics at Statista

According to Deutsche Welle reporting, the 5,000-strong strikeforce called Panzerbrigade 45 is said to become fully operational by 2027. The brigade will support the already existing so-called NATO Enhanced Forward Presence in the Baltic country, which, in contrast to Panzerbrigade 45, rotates its personnel regularly and was made up of soldiers from Germany, Belgium, Czechia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and the United States as of December 2023.

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/12/2024 - 10:50

Nebraska Ends Income Taxes On Gold And Silver, Declares CBDC’s Are Not Lawful Money

Nebraska Ends Income Taxes On Gold And Silver, Declares CBDC’s Are Not Lawful Money

Authroed by JP Cortez via the Mises Institute,

With Gov. Jim Pillen’s recent signature, Nebraska has become the 12th state to end capital gains taxes on sales of gold and silver.

LB 1317 is the fourth major sound money bill to become law this year, as state lawmakers across the nation scramble to protect the public from the ravages of inflation and runaway federal debt.

Under the new Nebraska law, any “gains” or “losses” on precious metal sales reported on federal income tax returns are backed out, thereby removing them from the calculation of a Nebraska taxpayer’s adjusted gross income (AGI).

Supported by the Sound Money Defense League, Money Metals Exchange, and in-state advocates, Nebraska’s sound money measure passed out of the unicameral legislature’s Revenue committee unanimously before being amended into a larger bill.

Sponsor Sen. Ben Hansen said upon news of the formal enactment of his legislation:

Gold and silver are the only forms of currency mentioned in our Constitution and with that comes the people’s ability to use it as such without penalty from the government. Saving, and using, gold and silver is our right and one of the only checks and balances to our federal government’s unending devaluation of our paper currency.

Taxpayers often realize ‘gains’ when converting the monetary metals back into Federal Reserve notes even though the ‘gains’ do not reflect an increase in real value but rather reflect the currency’s ongoing devaluation.

Despite the lack of “real” gains, the Internal Revenue Service imposes capital gains taxes on such transactions. Nebraska has now opted out at the state level, declining to carry the IRS’s position into the definition of Nebraska income.

Jp Cortez, executive director of the Sound Money Defense League, explained during his testimony before the Revenue Committee that the ferocious wave of inflation facing Nebraskans is largely caused by harmful actions of the Federal Reserve:

The state can take a different course and provide Nebraska citizens cleaner access to gold and silver ownership – and these metals are not only a proven inflation hedge but states all over the country are remonetizing constitutional sound money in the form of gold and silver.

Eleven other states already do not charge an income tax on sales of precious metals, with Arkansas, Arizona, and Utah recently enacting such laws. Meanwhile, Iowa, Georgia, Oklahoma, Missouri, West Virginia, and Kansas have been considering similar legislation in 2024.

“Investments in precious metals coins and bullion in Nebraska are now rightly exempt from both sales tax and income tax,” said Stefan Gleason, CEO of Money Metals and Chairman of the Sound Money Defense League.

Neutralizing Nebraska’s income tax treatment of the monetary metals removes significant disincentives in the Cornhusker State against the ownership and use of the monetary metals.

Meanwhile, LB 1317 revises the state’s formal definition of money by adding language that states: “Money does not include central bank digital currency.”

The new law defines central bank digital currency as “a digital medium of exchange, token, or monetary unit of account issued by the United States Federal Reserve System or any analogous federal agency that is made directly available to the consumer by such federal entities. Central bank digital currency (CBDC) includes a digital medium of exchange, token, or monetary unit of account so issued that is processed or validated directly by such federal entities.”

Sen. Hansen said: “I believe we have to be extra vigilant in our assessment and application of a Central bank digital currency to make sure they do not become a danger to our freedom. That’s why we defined in LB 1317 that CBDC’s are not classified as currency in Nebraska, which should help protect against unwarranted mandates for their use in the future.”

Versions of this “anti-CBDC language” have advanced or signed into law in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Florida, South Dakota, and Indiana . Congressman Alex Mooney has also introduced a federal measure to block the Federal Reserve’s digital currency scheme.

In his testimony, Cortez discussed the potential risks of adopting a CBDC, including creating a greater ability to track all financial transactions, disallowing certain types of purchases, or even completely “turning off” a targeted individual’s access to money.

Nebraska joins Utah, Wisconsin, and Kentucky as states to have enacted pro-sound money legislation into law so far in 2024.

Currently ranked 22nd in the 2024 Sound Money Index, Nebraska’s ranking is expected to rise.

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/12/2024 - 10:15

Watch: Just Stop Oil Activists Try To Destroy Case Holding Original Magna Carta

Watch: Just Stop Oil Activists Try To Destroy Case Holding Original Magna Carta

The Just Stop Oil and related green "Apocalypse" movements are poster children for modern Cultural Marxists - sharing similarities with the Chinese communist mobs behind the Cultural Revolution of 1966. The general goal of every Marxist movement is to undermine or sabotage any opposing culture using whatever means necessary so that it can be scrapped and replaced with a new progressive/collectivist system.  In particular, such activists have long targeted western civilization for demolition with the intention of bringing about a woke revolution.

This is why we often see the same people (or types of people) involved in seemingly separate causes.  It might be protests and riots in favor of BLM, it might be Antifa efforts to disrupt conservative and moderate speakers, it might be protests to control college campuses in the name of Gaza or it may even be anti-carbon protests to derail energy security in the name of "saving the planet" from a global warming threat that doesn't actually exist.

Most interesting is the habit of Just Stop Oil activists to target famous symbols of western history for defacement or destruction.  One might ask what does the Mona Lisa or the Magna Carta have to do with oil production or climate change, and the answer is absolutely nothing.  Protesters would claim that trying to destroy these antiquities is a way to get media attention for their cause, but the only attention they ever get is negative - These actions make people want to hate protesters rather than help them. 

The real message is one of aggression, not attention.  Marxist activists are saying that western culture, not oil, is their enemy. And, if they don't get what they want they will continue to try to smash our greatest works of art and historic documents as a means to tear the west down piece by piece.  When protesters declare the Magna Carta fair game it's not a random decision; they know exactly what they are doing.  In this situation, two gullible elderly women were obviously given a task they were not able to complete:

Rev. Sue Parfitt, 82, and Judy Bruce, 85, a retired biology teacher, were both arrested after they tried to smash a glass case containing the historical document at the British Library in London on Friday, London's Metropolitan Police said.  The Magna Carta is a revered 13th Century treaty that held English royalty to the same legal standards as the citizenry.  It is often cited as a precursor to later freedom-based documents like the US Constitution and a source for western democracy. 

The incompetence of Just Stop Oil protestors is the one saving grace in this scenario, and it is likely a natural consequence of the kinds of people that are attracted to the idea (high IQs apparently don't jump at the chance to join the ranks).  The group is, however, suspiciously coordinated and tends to receive favor from progressive political leaders.  It is a sad reflection of the ideological hysteria holding the world hostage today. With so many different movements chipping away at the foundations of the west, eventually something will break.            

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/12/2024 - 09:40

The Investment "Holy Grail" Doesn’t Exist

The Investment "Holy Grail" Doesn’t Exist

Authored by Lance Roberts via realinvestmentadvice.com,

When it comes to the financial markets, investors have a litany of investment vehicles to choose from. The choices are nearly unlimited, from brokered certificates of deposit to complex derivative instruments. Of course, investment vehicles’ proliferation comes from investors’ demand for everything from excess benchmark returns to income generation to downside protection.

Of course, every investor wants “all the upside, with none of the downside.” While there are vehicles, like indexed annuities, that can provide no downside risk, they cap the upside return. If you buy an index fund, you can get “all the upside” and “all the risk.”

However, an email from a reader last week got me thinking about the perfect “investment vehicle” and the search for the “holy grail” of investing.

“My wife and I are looking for a place to position some of our ’emergency funds’ for a better return. Our requirements are pretty simplistic:

  • Guarantee at least a 4% rate of return.
  • Allow me to withdraw cash without penalty when needed.
  • Reinvest all income
  • If bond yields decline as expected, the value of the investment increases.

At this point, I was confident in just suggesting purchasing a 10-year Treasury bond. At current rates, the investment would yield greater than 4% and guarantee the principal. If yields decline, the bond rises in price, reinvestment of income is an option, and the investment is highly liquid.

Theoretically, this would be the “perfect investment” vehicle for their needs. I said “theoretically” because they added one more requirement just as I was about to spout off my terrific idea.

“Oh, and one more thing, the dollar value of the account must remain stable at all times.”

And that, as they say, quickly ended the “perfect investment” vehicle for their needs.

Why did the addition of “price stability” make their request impossible?

The 3-Components Of All Investments

In portfolio management, you can ONLY have two of three components of any investment or asset class:

  • Safety – The return of principal without loss due to price change or fees
  • Liquidity – Immediately accessible without penalties or fees
  • Return – Appreciation in the price of the investment

The table below is the matrix of your options.

The takeaway is that cash is the only asset class that provides safety and liquidity. Safety comes at the cost of return. Equities are liquid and provide returns but can suffer a significant loss of principal. Bonds can offer returns through income and safety if held to maturity. But in exchange for that safety, investors must forego liquidity.

In other words, no investment can provide all three factors simultaneously. While the table above uses only Equities, Bonds, and Cash, those three factors apply to any investment vehicle you may consider.

  • Fixed Annuities (Indexed) – safety and return, no liquidity. 
  • Certificates of Deposit – safety and return, no liquidity.
  • ETFs – liquidity and return, no safety.
  • Mutual Funds – liquidity and return, no safety.
  • Real Estate – safety and return, no liquidity.
  • Traded REITs – liquidity and return, no safety.
  • Commodities – liquidity and return, no safety.
  • Gold – liquidity and return, no safety. 

You get the idea.

Let’s revisit our email question.

While I initially focused on the cash requirements, these were also funds set aside for an “emergency.” In other words, these funds must be readily available when an unexpected event arises. Since “unexpected events” tend to happen at the worst possible time, these funds should never be put at risk. The need for “safety” and “liquidity” eliminates the third factor: Return.

No matter what investment vehicle you choose, you can only have two of the three components. Such is an essential and often overlooked consideration when determining portfolio construction and allocation. 

8-Reasons To Focus On Liquidity

Liquidity is the most essential factor in making any investment. Without liquidity, I can not invest. Therefore, liquidity should always remain a high priority when managing your portfolio.

I learned a long time ago that while a “rising tide lifts all boats,” eventually, the “tide recedes.” Over the years, I made a straightforward adjustment to my portfolio management, which has served me well. When risks begin to outweigh the potential for reward, I raise cash.

The great thing about holding extra cash is that if I’m wrong, I simply make the proper adjustments to increase the risk in my portfolios. However, if I am right, I protect investment capital from destruction and spend far less time ‘getting back to even.’ Despite media commentary to the contrary, regaining losses is not an investment strategy. 

Here are 8-reasons why you should focus on liquidity first:

1) We are speculators, not investors. We buy pieces of paper at one price with hopes of selling at a higher price. Such is speculation in its purest form. When risk outweighs rewards, cash is a good option. 

2) 80% of stocks move in the direction of the market. If the market is falling, regardless of the fundamentals, the majority of stocks will decline also.

3) The best traders understand the value of cash. From Jesse Livermore to Gerald Loeb, each believed in “buying low and selling high.” If you “sell high,” you have raised cash to “buy low.”

4) Roughly 90% of what we think about investing is wrong. Two 50% declines since 2000 should have taught us to respect investment risks.

5) 80% of individual traders lose money over ANY 10-year period. Why? Investor psychology, emotional biases, lack of capital, etc. Repeated studies by Dalbar prove this. 

6) Raising cash is often a better hedge than shorting. While shorting the market, or a position, to hedge risk in a portfolio is reasonable, it also merely transfers the “risk of being wrong” from one side of the ledger to the other. Cash protects capital and eliminates risk. 

7) You can’t “buy low” if you don’t have anything to “buy with.” While the media chastises individuals for holding cash, it should be somewhat evident that without cash you can’t take advantage of opportunities.

8) Cash protects against forced liquidations. One of the biggest problems for Americans  is a lack of cash to meet emergencies. Having a cash cushion allows for handling life’s “curve-balls,” without being forced to liquidate retirement plans.Layoffs, employment changes, etc. are economically driven and tend to occur with downturns that coincide with market losses. Having cash allows you to weather the storms. 

Importantly, I want to stress that I am not talking about being 100% in cash.

I suggest that holding higher cash levels during periods of uncertainty provides both stability and opportunity.

With the political, fundamental, and economic backdrop becoming much more hostile toward investors in the intermediate term, understanding the value of cash as a “hedge” against loss becomes much more critical. 

Chasing yield at any cost has typically not ended well for most.

Of course, since Wall Street does not make fees on investors holding cash, maybe there is another reason they are so adamant that you remain invested all the time.

Lance Roberts is a Chief Portfolio Strategist/Economist for RIA Advisors. He is also the host of “The Lance Roberts Podcast” and Chief Editor of the “Real Investment Advice” website and author of “Real Investment Daily” blog and “Real Investment Report“. Follow Lance on Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In and YouTube

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/12/2024 - 09:05

Ukrainian Suicide Drone Attack At Russia's Volgograd Oil Refinery Sparks Fire

Ukrainian Suicide Drone Attack At Russia's Volgograd Oil Refinery Sparks Fire

In defiance of repeated warnings from the Biden administration, the Ukrainian military is ramping up kamikaze drone attacks on the Russian energy complex, a move to hamper the nation's crude oil and crude product export revenues and curtail Moscow's ability to fund President Putin's 'special operation' in Ukraine.

The latest suicide drone attack struck early Sunday at Lukoil PJSC's large oil refinery in Volgograd, deep within the country and hundreds of miles east of the Ukrainian border, according to Bloomberg. 

"During the night of May 12, the air defense and electronic warfare forces fought off a drone on the territory of the Volgograd region," Governor Andrey Bocharov wrote on Telegram.

Unverified claims on X, one from OSINTtechnical said, "Overnight, Ukrainian forces successfully struck the Lukoil refinery in Volgograd, Russia. At least one drone hit the complex, reportedly setting the ELOU AVT-1 refining unit ablaze."

Belarus media outlet Nexta said, "UAVs attacked an oil refinery in Russia's Volgograd region. Propaganda media reported that after the strike, a heavy fire broke out."

Bloomberg noted, "The Volgograd refinery is capable of processing 14.8 million tons of oil a year and is among Russia's largest. It was previously struck by drones in February, when it temporarily cut back some of its operations."

On Thursday, a Ukrainian drone targeted Gazprom PJSC's Salavat Neftekhim, a top-producing petrochemical and oil-refining facility. On Friday, a drone strike targeted a smaller refinery in the Kaluga region.

In March, FT reported that the Biden admin was freaking out that Ukraine's drone strikes "risked driving up global oil prices."

One month later, in April, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Ukraine that drone and missile attacks should not be focused on energy infrastructure but instead on military targets because of the risk of sending Brent crude prices over $100/bbl.

"Those attacks could have a knock-on effect in terms of the global energy situation," Austin said, adding, "Quite frankly, I think Ukraine is better served by going after tactical and operational targets that can directly influence the current fight."

In mid-April, Reuters estimated that Russia's refining capacity, which was offline due to drone attacks, was around 660,000 barrels per day, compared to 907,000 bpd offline at the end of March. Russia has stated it can repair all damaged units within two months. 

Russia's Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov said all damaged refineries would be restarted by the beginning of June.

The main goal of the refinery drone attacks by Ukraine is to crush Moscow's funding of the war by curtailing crude product (such as diesel) exports. 

Days ago, Foreign Affairs magazine writer Sam Winter-Levy penned a note titled "Why Ukraine Should Keep Striking Russian Oil Refineries," explaining that "with less domestic refining capacity, Russia will be forced to export more of its crude oil, not less, pushing global prices down rather than up." 

If Biden's foreign policy is to keep Brent prices below $90/bbl before the November presidential elections, and if Levy's analysis is correct, then this could only mean more drone attacks. However, this risks further escalating the conflict as no peace deal is in sight and the world marches closer to World War III. 

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/12/2024 - 08:30

GOP Senators Want IRS To Yank Tax-Exempt Status For Organizations Involved In Campus Protests

GOP Senators Want IRS To Yank Tax-Exempt Status For Organizations Involved In Campus Protests

A group of fifteen Republican Senators want the IRS to investigate whether groups involved in recent anti-Israel protests on college campuses violated their tax-exempt status by supporting Hamas, a designated terrorist group.

According to the letter, spearheaded by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), the National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP), the AJP Educational Foundation (AJP), the Tides Foundation, the Westchester Peace Action Committee Foundation (WESPAC Foundation), and others were offered to IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel in order to determine if they "engaged in conduct warranting revocation of their tax-exempt statuses on the basis of their financial support of NSJP," Just the News reports.

The letter notes that victims of the Oct. 7 attack in Israel have sued AJP and NSJP, accusing them of being a propaganda division of Hamas, and suggests that the organizations have "control" over Students for Justice in Palestine chapters, which have been heavily involved in campus protests.

Notably, George Soros has funded Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) through a constellation of nonprofits which all lead to the billionaire agitator.

At three colleges, the protests are being encouraged by paid radicals who are “fellows” of a Soros-funded group called the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR).

USCPR provides up to $7,800 for its community-based fellows and between $2,880 and $3,660 for its campus-based “fellows” in return for spending eight hours a week organizing “campaigns led by Palestinian organizations.”

They are trained to “rise up, to revolution.”

The radical group received at least $300,000 from Soros’ Open Society Foundations since 2017 and also took in $355,000 from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund since 2019. -NY Post

"It is long-established precedent that when 501(c)(3) organizations have ‘planned activities that violate laws’ or engage in activities designed ‘to induce the commission of a crime or if the accomplishment of the purpose is otherwise against public policy,’ the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has grounds to revoke their tax-exempt status," reads the Ernst letter.

"In fact, the IRS has set the precedent that ‘organizations have been held not to qualify for IRC 501(c)(3) on grounds that the activities of the organizations in question contravened public policy even though the organizations did not violate any federal statutes or state or local laws."

The letter also points out that these organizations and the protests are supporting Hamas, which has been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).

"In light of this abhorrent support for an FTO, we call on you to initiate an investigation to determine whether financial supporters of NSJP, including but not limited to AJP, the WESPAC Foundation, and the Tides Foundation, have engaged in conduct warranting their tax-exempt status to be stripped," they added.

The groups have defended themselves. For example, in a recent post on X, NSJP wrote that its members "are developing a generation of disciplined, politicized young leaders who will carry the torch of our struggle," adding "Long live the Student Intifada."

All of that said - Ernst is a huge recipient of pro-Israel campaign donations and has attended AIPAC events...

...so one has to wonder if using the IRS against Israel's enemies on this very horseshoe issue is anywhere near 'good faith.'

Read the letter below:

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/12/2024 - 08:00

UN Agency Closes Jerusalem HQ After Israeli Settler Arson Attacks

UN Agency Closes Jerusalem HQ After Israeli Settler Arson Attacks

Via The Cradle

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced on Thursday that it is shutting down its headquarters in east Jerusalem after Israeli settlers carried out an arson attack on its building.

This was the second settler attack on the UNRWA building in less than a week, according to the agency’s general commissioner, Phillipe Lazzarini. 

"Our director, with the help of other staff, had to put out the fire themselves as it took the Israeli fire extinguishers and police a while before they turned up. This is an outrageous development. Once again, the lives of UN staff were at serious risk."

"In light of this second appalling incident in less than a week, I have taken the decision to close down our compound until proper security is restored," Lazzarini said. 

Video footage on social media showed the UNRWA building in flames as settlers were heard cheering in the background. There were no injuries, but the fires caused significant damage to property, according to WAFA news agency.

Just two days earlier, settlers attacked the same headquarters, throwing stones at UN staff members "under the watch of the Israeli police," Lazzarini added. 

The perpetrators of these attacks must be investigated, and those responsible must be held accountable. Anything less will set a new dangerous standard,” he said, adding that settlers have continuously attacked and harassed UNRWA staff for months. “On several occasions, Israeli extremists threatened our staff with guns.”

Settlers have been staging violent and provocative protests outside UNRWA headquarters for the past two months. 

The UN agency has been operating in support of Palestinian refugees and internally displaced Palestinians since 1950. The organization provides education, health care, and other services. In recent years, it has suffered a severe lack of funding for its global operations.

After the October 7 attacks, Israel accused UNRWA staff members of taking part in the attack.

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/12/2024 - 07:30

"Investment Into European Security": Poland Unveils New Fortifications On Belarus Border

"Investment Into European Security": Poland Unveils New Fortifications On Belarus Border

Starting in 2022, NATO and EU member Poland began building a large border wall in order to keep migrants from crossing from Belarus. At the time Belarus, which is closely allied with Russia, was alleged by Warsaw to be 'weaponizing' migrants. Warsaw says this has not only continued but has escalated.

Poland is now seeking more funds from the European Union to further strengthen and extend its fence and fortifications on the Belarusian border while presenting the project as an "investment into European security."

Via AP

Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed during a televised visit to the border that new 'anti-migration structures have been erected.

"We have begun intensive work on modern fortification lines in many dimensions. This fortification will appear along the entire Polish border - here in the east- and we will inform public opinion," he said. He urged the EU to back the undertaking.

"This is the external border of Poland, as well as the European Union. Therefore, I have no doubt that the whole of Europe, I believe that we will get this, will have to invest in its security, investing in the eastern border of Poland and in the security of our borders," Tusk underscored.

"I know that there are more and more illegal crossings every day," Tusk continued while also citing the war in Ukraine as a chief cause. He described "the growing threat resulting from the Russian-Ukrainian war, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and the uncertain geopolitical situation."

"I came today primarily so that both commanders and their subordinates have no doubt that the Polish state and the Polish government are with them in every situation, here at the border," Tusk continued.

He additionally said that he let it be known to his security commanders guarding the border that "there are no limits on resources when it comes to Poland’s security."

The crisis became acute in 2022, when thousands of migrants from Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and Africa first poured into Belarus and proceeded to the Polish border, where they endured bitter cold in their quest to cross the border. Poland alleged that Belarusian security was coordinating and facilitating the plot behind the secenes the whole time.

At times, the situation has brought major confrontations, for example when hundreds of migrants pushed toward the border near the Polish village of Kuznica and attempted to defeat a barbed wire fence with spades and other tools, clashing with Polish security on the other side. 

Tyler Durden Sun, 05/12/2024 - 07:00

Pages