The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is sounding the alarm over the recently unveiled Schumer-Manchin tax plan that would disproportionately burden their operations. NAM reports: The proposed “book tax” in the Senate’s reconciliation bill “would overwhelmingly hit U.S. manufacturers,” according to a new analysis by the Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress’s non-partisan tax scorekeeper. What’s going on: The reconciliation bill, the outline of which was released Wednesday by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WVA), proposes a 15% minimum … [Read more...]
Is a Housing Market Crash Next?
With the Fed raising rates fast, homeowners are watching as demand for their homes begins to dry up. Pending home sales fell by 8.6% in June. That was much further than forecast, reports Aarthi Swaminathan at MarketWatch: U.S. pending-home sales fell in June by 8.6%, according to the monthly index released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors. Analysts polled by the Wall Street Journal had forecast the pending home sales index to drop by 1%. The drop in pending home sales is the biggest since the depths of the pandemic in April and March 2020. It also follows gloomy data on … [Read more...]
FERTILIZER SHORTAGE: German Manufacturer Cuts Ammonia Production
In response to reduced supplies of natural gas in Germany, chemical manufacturer BASF is reducing its production of ammonia, a fertilizer feedstock produced from natural gas. Reuters's Ludwig Burger reports: Germany's BASF (BASFn.DE), the world's largest chemical company, is cutting ammonia production further due to soaring natural gas prices, it said on Wednesday, with potential ramifications from farming to fizzy drinks. Germany's biggest ammonia maker SKW Piesteritz and number four Ineos also said they could not rule out production cuts as the country grapples with disruption to Russian … [Read more...]
America Is Now the World’s LNG Superpower
In the first half of 2022, driven by increased exports to European nations, the United States became the world's largest exporter of liquified natural gas (LNG). The EIA reports: The United States became the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter during the first half of 2022, according to data from CEDIGAZ. Compared with the second half of 2021, U.S. LNG exports increased by 12% in the first half of 2022, averaging 11.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). U.S. LNG exports continued to grow for three reasons—increased LNG export capacity, increased international natural gas and … [Read more...]
China Mining MORE Coal While the West Crusades for Climate Change
While America and other western powers continue to restrict the production and use of fossil fuels, China's National Energy Group increased its coal production by 58 million tons in the first half of the year. According to a translated version of the story from Xinhua News (Chinese state-owned media): The National Energy Group is currently the world's largest coal production company, thermal power generation company, wind power generation company and coal-to-oil coal chemical company. In April 2022, the executive meeting of the State Council deployed that it will add 300 million tons of coal … [Read more...]
Economists List Biden’s 6 Favorite Lies About Inflation
In The Hill, economists Stephen Moore and EJ Antoni list the six favorite lies about inflation made by the Biden administration. They write: Nobody making under four hundred thousand bucks will have their taxes raised. Period. This one was reminiscent of the infamous George H.W. Bush claim in 1988 “read my lips: no new taxes.” Biden didn’t say he wouldn’t raise taxes on the middle class once or twice, but routinely throughout the campaign — and he even STILL says it. Except that inflation is a tax that hits the middle class and the poor hardest and over the past year, prices have … [Read more...]
Much of Europe Still Heavily Dependent on Russian Gas
Despite efforts in recent years to transition away from Russian gas, many of Europe's economies are still heavily dependent on it. The IMF has released a report indicating that the loss of Russian gas supplies could cause economic contractions of up to 6 percent in some nations, including Czechia and the Slovak Republic. The IMF reports: Dependence on Russia for gas, and other energy sources, varies widely by country. How could a Russian natural gas cutoff weigh on Europe’s economies? #IMFBlog rounds up three new staff research papers examining this question: https://t.co/aZBFX6dWnj … [Read more...]
India and China Quietly Eschew Sanctions, Buy Russia’s Oil
Despite international approbation of commerce with Russia, India and China have quietly been buying Russian oil. Bloomberg News reports: China’s oil refiners are discreetly purchasing cheap Russian crude as the nation’s supply continues to seep into the market. Unlike India’s state-run oil refiners, which have issued a number of tenders seeking to buy Russia’s flagship Urals crude among other grades, traders say China’s state processors are negotiating privately under the radar with sellers. The nation’s independent refiners are also quietly buying, according to traders who asked not to be … [Read more...]
Is there Any Oil Left? Saudi Aramco Says Market Is Tight
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates hold the bulk of the world's spare oil capacity. With prices for oil surging, Saudi Arabia's state run oil company, Saudi Aramco was asked if there was much oil to spare, and its answer was, essentially, "not much." Reuters reports: Global oil demand is growing healthily as economies recover from the pandemic and spare production capacity is declining, the CEO of Saudi Arabia's state oil company Aramco said on Sunday. Oil prices have surged to 14 year highs above $100 per barrel in recent weeks as Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompted fears of … [Read more...]
SUPPLY CHAIN SLAM: China’s COVID Outbreak Shuts Down Factories
Surging numbers of COVID-19 cases have forced Chinese leaders to lock down important manufacturing cities including Shenzhen and Changchun. The lockdowns could impact the production of many electronics, including iPhones. The Wall Street Journal reports: A number of manufacturers including Foxconn 2317 -1.46% Technology Group, a major assembler of Apple Inc.’s AAPL +2.82% iPhones, said they were halting operations in Shenzhen in compliance with the local government’s policy. The government placed the city into lockdown for at least a week and said everyone in the city would have to undergo … [Read more...]
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