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Ukraine Crisis Excuse
00:04:28
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| Hello everybody and thank you for tuning in to the weekly report. | |
| Is Putin the New Coronavirus? | |
| President Biden's maskless state of the Union signifies the near end of the COVID tyranny we have lived under for the past two years. | |
| Fortunately for Congress, the President and the Federal Reserve, the Ukraine-Russian conflict is replacing COVID as a ready-made excuse for their failures and a justification for expanding their power. | |
| Even before politicians began declaring the end of the pandemic, polls showed that rising prices were the people's top concern, particularly the increase in gas prices. | |
| Since Russia is one of the world's leading energy producers, sanctions imposed on Russia, as well as Germany's decision made under pressure from the U.S. to shut down the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, provide a convenient excuse for rising gas prices. | |
| This is the case even though the U.S. citing the instability in the world energy markets created by the Russian-Ukraine conflict has yet to officially ban import of Russian oil. | |
| The Federal Reserve has been planning several interest rate increases this year, even though some fear that rate increases could decrease growth and increase unemployment. | |
| The Russian crisis allows the Fed to either postpone rates increases or blame Russia for any unemployment that accompanies the rate increases. | |
| Either way, the Fed can use the crisis to deflect attention away from its responsibility for our economic problem. | |
| As for now, it appears the Fed will go through with at least modest rate increases this month, but because of the Ukraine prices, the increase will be smaller than previously expected. | |
| The Ukraine crisis also provides an excuse for Congress to do what Congress does best, increase federal spending. | |
| President Biden has requested Congress provide an additional $10 billion in emergency military aid to Ukraine. | |
| Congress will likely quickly approve the President's request. | |
| This will not likely be the last time Congress rushes billions of emergency money to Ukraine. | |
| It also certainly that lobbyists for the military-industrial complex are already explaining to a very receptive Capitol Hill audience why the Ukraine crisis justifies increasing the military budget to counter the threat from Russia, China, and whoever else can serve as a convenient boogeyman. | |
| It is unlikely there will be much resistance in Congress to further increase, even though the U.S. already spends more than the combined defense budget of the next nine biggest spending countries. | |
| Over the past two years, many leading internet companies did the government's bidding by deplatforming anyone who expressed skepticism of vaccines or promoted alternative treatments, even when they presented evidence to support their claim. | |
| These companies are once again helping the government by deplatforming those who question or are suspected of questioning the official narrative regarding Ukraine. | |
| Yet these companies' concerns with fake news have not led them to stop people from sharing widely debunked stories supporting the U.S.-backed Ukrainian government. | |
| The lockdown and band-aids did more harm than coronavirus itself. | |
| They were based on lies promoted by the government and its allies in the private sector. | |
| Yet too many Americans refuse to even question the U.S. government's claim regarding the Ukraine crisis or question whether Russia is really responsible for our economic problems as opposed to successive spendthrift presidents and an out-of-control Federal Reserve. | |
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The Only Way To Stop Authoritarians
00:00:18
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| The only way to stop authoritarians from using crises like these to grow their power is to make enough people understand a simple truth. | |
| Authoritarian politicians will always lie to the people to protect and increase their own power. | |