Joe Biden's Murica!

[adnj]

Difference with China and America is China not taking money from retirement funds of Federal employees and Civil employees to pay bills in the hopes of putting it back with interest. That's a risky move. Don't worry this recession is only mild.

What recession?

The U.S. is forecast to see 1.4% GDP growth in 2023, up from 1.0% seen in the last October projection.

Still, signs of economic weakness can be seen in the growing wave of tech layoffs, foreshadowed as a white-collar or ‘Patagonia-vest’ recession. Last year, 88,000 tech jobs were cut and this trend has continued into 2023. Major financial firms have also followed suit. Still, unemployment remains fairly steadfast, at 3.5% as of December 2022. Going forward, concerns remain around inflation and the path of interest rate hikes, though both show signs of slowing.

With that note let's stop raising the debt ceiling and watch the house of cards fall apart....

Why would debt limits be a problem for the US but not for smaller countries that have proportionally more debt than the US? Japan or Barbados, for instance.

[SuperiorMan]

Hmm....food for thought.

[SuperiorMan]

China just brokered a peace deal with Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Saudi Arabia making peace with Iran in a deal brokered by China is a 'middle finger to Biden'

Saudi Arabia and Iran have restored ties with the help of China, agreeing to reopen embassies in their respective capitals, in a move that appears to signal the US's waning influence in the region.

Tehran and Riyadh are historic rivals, and both have fueled a devastating eight-year war in Yemen as they've vied for greater influence in the Middle East. The Saudi and Iranian governments reestablishing diplomatic ties lowers the temperature in the region and raises hopes that their proxy war in Yemen will come to an end.

At the same time, the deal amounts to a slap in the face to the Biden administration. It's a sign that the Saudi government, under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is willing to increase ties with US adversaries, and could have major implications for the future of the region.

"Stunning at a time when US-Chinese ties are at an all time low and US-Iranian tensions rising that MBS does a deal that boosts Beijing and legitimizes Tehran. It's a middle finger to Biden and a practical calculation of Saudi interests," Aaron David Miller, a former US diplomat who advised multiple secretaries of state on the Middle East, said in a tweet.

The move is also indicative of China's growing influence in the Middle East after decades of US dominance in the region largely catalyzed by the war on terror.

"The fact that China brokered the deal is significant," Annelle Sheline, a research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said on Twitter. "It shows the role that China could play in fostering a Middle East defined more by cooperation and trade and less by conflict and weapons sales, as has been the norm under US dominance."

The US and Saudi Arabia have a close relationship and have been security partners for years. But relations between the two countries have soured since the brutal 2018 murder of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, which led many in Washington to call for a reassessment of US-Saudi relations.

President Joe Biden on the campaign trail pledged to make Saudi Arabia a "pariah" over Khashoggi's killing, and in 2021 his administration released a declassified intelligence report that explicitly implicated the crown prince — often referred to as MBS — in the murder.

But Biden faced criticism last year when he visited Saudi Arabia and met with MBS at a time when his administration was pushing Riyadh to increase oil production amid shortages linked to the war in Ukraine that drove gas prices higher for American consumers. Saudi Arabia ultimately moved to cut oil production instead, which was viewed as a diplomatic embarrassment for the Biden administration and sparked outrage in Congress.

The deal also comes as the US contends with historic tensions with both Iran and China. Biden entered office vowing to restore the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, but the landmark pact is effectively defunct and Tehran's nuclear ambitions continue to raise concerns in Washington and beyond. Meanwhile, relations between China and the US have hit their lowest point in decades, with Beijing and Washington butting heads on a wide array of major issues — with Taiwan at the top of the list.

The agreement also has the potential to throw a wrench in efforts to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, given the latter and Iran are longtime enemies. Israel has appeared to suggest it could take military action against Iran over its accelerating nuclear program, particularly after UN experts recently said Tehran has enriched uranium to 84% — close to weapons-grade levels of 90%. Iran last month blamed Israel for a drone attack on one of its military facilities, and warned that it could respond "wherever and whenever deemed necessary."

https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-a ... ina-2023-3

[SuperiorMan]

Incompetent Biden continues to allow China to assert dominance in the Middle East.

[SuperiorMan]

Guys, question.

When will asians rule the world?

[maj. tom]

After WW3.
Empires rise and decline, come and go. There are historically devastating and large scale wars that shift the world's power balance.

[SuperiorMan]

So long?

[adnj]

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden sought to assure customers of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank on Monday that their money was safe — insured by the Deposit Insurance Fund — but said investors in the failed banks’ securities aren’t going to get the same guarantee.

“Investors in the banks will not be protected,” Biden said in a White House speech. “They knowingly took a risk and when the risk didn’t pay off, the investors lose their money. That’s how capitalism works.”

The nation’s top bank regulators on Sunday announced the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Federal Reserve would fully cover deposits at both failed banks and rely on Wall Street and large financial institutions — not taxpayers — to foot the bill. Signature Bank in New York, which was shuttered Sunday over similar systemic contagion fears as SVB, had been a popular funding source for cryptocurrency companies.

“The FDIC on Friday took control of SVB’s assets and over the weekend Signature’s,” Biden said. “All customers who had deposits in these banks can rest assured they will be protected and they’ll have access to the money as of today.”

The Treasury Department designated both SVB and Signature as systemic risks, giving it authority to unwind both institutions. The FDIC’s Deposit Insurance Fund, not taxpayer money, will be used to cover depositors, many of whom had significantly more than the $250,000 deposited at the banks that is normally covered by the FDIC.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/13/thats-h ... banks.html

[The_Honourable]

This is a good move by the Biden administration by helping the depositors only, but they can't hide from the fact on what it is... a bailout.

[Cantmis]

[adnj]

As the President said on Sunday when his administration took steps to stabilize the banking system, he is firmly committed to accountability for those responsible. Already, key executives that ran Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank – the two banks now under Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) receivership – have been removed, and investors in these two banks will take losses. The FDIC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Department of Justice have regulatory authority to investigate the circumstances leading up to these banks entering receivership, and to take action against the management of these banks as appropriate.

But the President believes Congress can and should do more to hold senior bank executives accountable. Congress must take action to strengthen the ability of the federal government to hold senior management accountable when their banks fail and enter FDIC receivership. Specifically, when banks fail because of mismanagement and excessive risk taking, it should be easier for regulators to claw back compensation from executives, to impose civil penalties, and to ban executives from working in the banking industry again.


https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-roo ... xecutives/

[Saltbae]

Didn't thst bank donate 73 million to BLM?

[adnj]

[img]//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230406/168208a9d8c07eb414d091f38ee22b30.jpg[/img]


https://apnews.com/article/robert-kenne ... d44b086593

[redmanjp]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230406/168208a9d8c07eb414d091f38ee22b30.jpg


https://apnews.com/article/robert-kenne ... d44b086593

he better watch his back - something happened to all the Kennedys.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_curse

Chronology
Events that have been treated as evidence of a curse include:

Kennedy deaths
August 12, 1944 – Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. died when the BQ-8 aircraft he was piloting accidentally exploded over East Suffolk, England. (A BQ-8 was a B-24 Liberator converted into a radio-controlled flying bomb. For more information, see Project Anvil.)[10]
September 9, 1944 – William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, newlywed husband of Kathleen Kennedy was fatally shot by a German sniper while leading his company near Heppen, Belgium.[11]
May 13, 1948 – Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy (formally known as Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington) died in a plane crash in France.[4][5][6][12]
August 9, 1963 – Patrick Bouvier Kennedy died of infant respiratory distress syndrome two days after his premature birth on August 7 in Otis Air Force Base, Massachusetts (the 20th anniversary of his father's rescue after the sinking of PT-109).
November 22, 1963 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, by Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald was shot dead by Jack Ruby two days later. In 1964, the Warren Commission concluded that Oswald was the lone assassin. However, in 1979, the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) concluded that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy and that Oswald did not act alone.[13]
June 5, 1968 – United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on the night of his victory in the California Democratic presidential primary; Robert died the following morning.[4][5][6][12]
April 25, 1984 – David A. Kennedy died of a drug overdose in a Palm Beach, Florida hotel room.[4][5][6][14][12] David was twelve years old when he saw his father assassinated on live TV in the family's hotel room. Following a car accident, David began to abuse painkillers and was in and out of detox facilities throughout his youth. On the day of his death, David was in Palm Beach to see his grandmother, who had just had a stroke.[15]
December 31, 1997 – Michael LeMoyne Kennedy died in a skiing accident after crashing into a tree[16] in Aspen, Colorado.[1][4][5][6][14][12]
July 16, 1999 – John F. Kennedy Jr. died when the plane he was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. The crash was attributed to pilot error and spatial disorientation. His wife and sister-in-law were also on board and died.[4][5][6][12]
September 16, 2011 – Kara Kennedy died of a heart attack while exercising in a Washington, D.C. health club. Kara had reportedly suffered from lung cancer nine years earlier, but she had recovered after the removal of part of her right lung.[17]
May 16, 2012 – Mary Richardson Kennedy died by suicide on the grounds of her home in Bedford, Westchester County, New York.[12][18]
August 1, 2019 – Saoirse Kennedy Hill, granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, died of accidental overdose after being found unresponsive at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. According to the toxicology results revealed in the death certificate, Hill had methadone, diazepam, nordiazepam, fluoxetine, norfluoxetine and ethanol in her system at the time of death.[19][20][21]
April 2, 2020 – Maeve Kennedy McKean disappeared with her eight-year-old son, Gideon, during a short canoe trip in the Chesapeake Bay.[22][23] Maeve's body was found by divers four days later.[24][25] Gideon's body was found two days after hers, on April 8.[26][27] Authorities believe Maeve paddled to retrieve her son's ball, leading the wind and current to overturn the canoe.[28]

[adnj]

[img]//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230418/972bf63f5946564565517becb2bbc69f.jpg[/img]



Weeks after a trove of classified US intelligence documents were posted on social media, the United Nations issued a rare rebuke of the United States after reports that those documents allegedly revealed the US was spying on the Secretary-General and other high ranking UN officials.

“The UN has made it clear that such actions are inconsistent with the obligations of the United States of America enumerated in the UN charter and the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations,” UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric read in a statement at his noon briefing Tuesday.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/18/amer ... index.html

[Dizzy28]

Sucks to be an American with good credit score or who saved up for a bigger DP.

Homebuyers with good credit scores will soon encounter a costly surprise: a new federal rule forcing them to pay higher mortgage rates and fees to subsidize people with riskier credit ratings who are also in the market to buy houses.

The fee changes will go into effect May 1 as part of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s push for affordable housing, and they will affect mortgages originating at private banks across the country. The federally backed home mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will enact the loan-level price adjustments, or LLPAs.

Mortgage industry specialists say homebuyers with credit scores of 680 or higher will pay, for example, about $40 per month more on a home loan of $400,000. Homebuyers who make down payments of 15% to 20% will get socked with the largest fees.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/20 ... uyers-sub/

[SuperiorMan]

Just Biden things.

[adnj]

Sucks to be an American with good credit score or who saved up for a bigger DP.

Homebuyers with good credit scores will soon encounter a costly surprise: a new federal rule forcing them to pay higher mortgage rates and fees to subsidize people with riskier credit ratings who are also in the market to buy houses.

The fee changes will go into effect May 1 as part of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s push for affordable housing, and they will affect mortgages originating at private banks across the country. The federally backed home mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will enact the loan-level price adjustments, or LLPAs.

Mortgage industry specialists say homebuyers with credit scores of 680 or higher will pay, for example, about $40 per month more on a home loan of $400,000. Homebuyers who make down payments of 15% to 20% will get socked with the largest fees.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/20 ... uyers-sub/

Background for those readers that don't know: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are US government programs to support mortgage affordability. They are the biggest US mortgage buyers, but they are not the only US mortgage buyers.

The fees were not increased for low income, low home value buyers. Buyers of median value homes with fair credit scores (below 720), buyers of expensive homes, and buyers of second homes were allotted increased fees.

[adnj]

[img]//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20230424/87de4ec9ce1ae8dc915fef295cbe4681.jpg[/img]


Fox News on Monday said the network and its star primetime host Tucker Carlson "have agreed to part ways," after more than a decade.

Driving the news: Carlson's last program was Friday April 21st, Fox News said, meaning he did not get a chance to sign off to his viewers.

Why it matters: The news comes days after Fox News reached a historic 11th hour settlement with Dominion Voting Systems for over $787 million.

https://www.axios.com/2023/04/24/tucker ... x-news-out

[K74T]

Good riddance

[maj. tom]

Nice parting shot from Dominion in the settlement terms. Tucker Carlson is as poisonous to Americans on TV as Rush Limbaugh was on radio.

[The_Honourable]

Tucker Carlson is literally #1 in prime time cable news so this is more a loss for Fox than him. He's in demand and would be back on soon probably Newsmax.

Don Lemon tho...

[The_Honourable]

Don Lemon Fired By CNN—Minutes After Tucker Carlson Out At Fox News

Longtime CNN anchor Don Lemon announced Monday he was fired by the network in a move that left him “stunned,” which came less than an hour after Fox News said it had parted ways with host Tucker Carlson in another massive shakeup to the cable news landscape.

More: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasre ... 431728408e

[Dizzy28]

I guess Don Lemon was



past his prime!!!!

[redmanjp]

Tucker Carlson is literally #1 in prime time cable news so this is more a loss for Fox than him. He's in demand and would be back on soon probably Newsmax.

Don Lemon tho...

yeah and perhaps some youtube or podcast channel.

but even cnc3 posting about this - how this relevant in T&T ?

[adnj]

Tucker Carlson is literally #1 in prime time cable news so this is more a loss for Fox than him. He's in demand and would be back on soon probably Newsmax.

Don Lemon tho...

Newsmax, Nick Jr., VH1, and the Golf Channel all have about the same number of viewers.

Your idea of a career safety net eludes me.

[Cantmis]

I want elon to hire them

[FrankChag]

Carlson was always super cringey.

Edit: Forgot to mention that Carlson was fired from CNN in 2005 because of this interview. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossfire_(American_TV_program)#Cancellation

[The_Honourable]

Tucker Carlson is literally #1 in prime time cable news so this is more a loss for Fox than him. He's in demand and would be back on soon probably Newsmax.

Don Lemon tho...

Newsmax, Nick Jr., VH1, and the Golf Channel all have about the same number of viewers.

Your idea of a career safety net eludes me.

Use your head. Newsmax has been popular among right viewership for the past three years and increasing competition against Fox. What you think is going to happen if the #1 guy on primetime news goes to newsmax? He's not Don Lemon, Anderson, Cuomo or Maddow with their struggle ratings.

You elude your own self most of the times adnj, keep to yourself.

[adnj]

Tucker Carlson is literally #1 in prime time cable news so this is more a loss for Fox than him. He's in demand and would be back on soon probably Newsmax.

Don Lemon tho...

Newsmax, Nick Jr., VH1, and the Golf Channel all have about the same number of viewers.

Your idea of a career safety net eludes me.

Start thinking. Newsmax has been popular among right viewership for the past three years and increasing competition against Fox. What you think is going to happen if the #1 guy on primetime news goes to newsmax?

You elude your own self most of the times adnj, keep to yourself.

Newsmax is the place to go - if Carlson wants a steep paycut.

Newsmax viewership is currently less than 5% of Fox's viewership.

I have to guess that you didn't know that.

It seems that the economics of how viewership influences ad revenue, and therefore salaries, isn't as well know as I assumed.