Tag: economy

Syria’s De Facto Authorities Execute ‘Sweeping’ Neoliberal Reforms

The self-appointed transitional government in Syria is undertaking sweeping internal reforms, including privatizing state-run enterprises and laying off a third of the public sector, as authorities say they are shifting to “a competitive free-market economy.”

In an interview with Reuters, ex-officials of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) who are serving as cabinet ministers for transitional President Ahmad al-Sharaa – former ISIS and Al-Qaeda commander Abu Mohammad al-Julani – say they have a “wide scope” of plans to shrink the state, including removing thousands of “ghost employees.”

“The goal is to balance private sector growth with support for the most vulnerable,” interim Minister of Finance Basil Abdel Hanan told the British outlet.

Hanan previously served as economy minister in Idlib’s HTS-led administration. During this time, the group financed its operations by imposing high taxes on citizens, including taxes on humanitarian aid delivered by the UN. Reports from Arabic media in 2022 disclosed that HTS authorities funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into Turkiye by confiscating humanitarian aid shipments and subsequently selling them on the black market.

The Syrian officials also told Reuters that they want Syrian factories to “serve as a launchpad” for global exports.

Nonetheless, discontent is growing throughout Syria due to the layoffs, despite the assurances from western-backed officials. “My salary helps me manage basic needs, like bread and yogurt, to sustain the household. If this decision goes through, it will increase unemployment across society,” stated Adham Abu al-Alaya, one of the many public sector workers currently on a three-month paid leave while their job status is evaluated.

The reforms also come as the country is gripped by a wave of sectarian killings and executions carried out by armed groups under the command of the transitional government’s Military Operations Department.

“[The killings are] normal and may continue for two or three years,” Sharaa said behind closed doors, according to Syrian sources who spoke with The Cradle.

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Inflation Storm Leaves Americans More Reliant On Food Banks

Emily Engelhard, Vice President of Research at Feeding America, told Bloomberg that elevated and persistent inflation ushered in a “new era of food insecurity,” emphasizing that “this is no longer an unemployment issue.” 

Feeding America, the largest charity working to end hunger in the US, has a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks that feed more than 46 million people through food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other community-based agencies.

“Everyone sees prices getting high — for food, clothes, everything,” Kersstin Eshak told Bloomberg, who recently visited a food bank in Loudoun County, Virginia. She said the inflation nightmare over the last several years depleted her pocketbook.  

America’s cost-of-living crisis mostly erupted during the Biden-Harris regime’s first term. 

Ethan Amos, the head of the Flagstaff Family Food Center in Arizona, said his food bank broke records in 2022 by serving an average of 28,000 meals per month. That figure has now surged to a staggering 40,000 meals per month, driven by the inflationary pressures unleashed during the Biden-Harris administration’s disastrous “Bidenomics.“

Believe it or not, Washington, DC, has a hunger crisis. The largest food bank in the area, Capital Area Food Bank, distributed 64 million meals last year—five million more than the previous year. Data from the food bank shows that food insecurity has risen most sharply among households earning $100,000–$150,000.

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US Seeks to Boost Semiconductor Chip Manufacturing

The chip shortage has been at the top of mind over the last week after the launch of DeepSeek, a novel AI service intended to compete with ChatGPT. Semiconductor manufacturers have left the US and previous plans to attract domestic production have failed. President Donald Trump has proposed a new idea to force production back to the states through tariffs.

The CHIPS and Science Act launched under the Biden Administration injected $52 billion into American chip manufacturing. Intel was awarded $7.9 billion in 2024 to boost factories in Ohio, Oregon, New Mexico, and Arizona. Still, these incentives have not been sufficient to attract new chip manufacturers to the US, with the bulk residing in Taiwan.

Trump believes that throwing cash at companies is not enough to boost domestic production. “They’re gonna build their factory with their own money. We don’t have to give them money,” Trump added, later claiming: “They’re giving the money, they don’t even know what they’re going to do with it.” Instead, he is proposing tariffs between 25% to 100%, believing companies will come to the US to avoid these impossible taxes.

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Opposing The Keynesian Illusion: Spending Does Not Drive The Economy

Keynes held that the economy can suffer extended periods of high unemployment because of deficient aggregate spending. A contraction in spending results in businesses having excess inventories and reduced revenues. Businesses respond by cutting back and decreasing their demand for labor. Due to “sticky wages,” this results in a large decrease in employment and incomes for workers. The problem comes full circle and self-aggravating because workers as a whole must restrict their spending due to their reduced incomes.

For Keynes, the solution is found in the government, which can increase the money supply and engage in deficit spending. Monetary and fiscal policies are aimed at stimulating (indirectly) and replacing (directly) aggregate spending, respectively. Instead of focusing on these destructive prescriptions, I want to take a closer look at the central placement of aggregate spending in his analysis.

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Rebuilding American Manufacturing: It’s Not Just Plants, It’s People

The latest spotlight on the crisis in American manufacturing may be on steel, but our nation has traded its manufacturing might for financial gains across all sectors – making the same fateful mistake that has befallen great civilizations throughout history. As a founder, CEO, and advocate for American industrial renewal, who’s building the world’s most advanced, efficient factories to counter China’s chokehold on manufacturing, I can tell you that America has just three years – not 10 – to rebuild our industrial base before falling critically behind.  

The vice president and many of the new administration have demonstrated passion for reindustrializing the country and creating a jobs boom that has not been seen in this country for decades. 

This is not just an economic challenge – it’s a moral imperative to secure our nation’s future while being good stewards of our resources, which include the people of this great country. 

The good news is that American innovation and determination can overcome these challenges. In my own company, we’ve developed systems that can transform someone who’s never set foot in a factory into a highly productive team member in weeks, not years. We pay well, offer equity, and provide meaningful work contributing to national security. This isn’t about replacing American workers with automation – it’s about empowering them with technology to manufacture for America faster and better than ever before, creating new and better jobs along the way. 

Likewise, the Trump administration’s commitment to reindustrialization, American manufacturing and our workforce can begin on Day One. To regain our competitiveness, we need the incoming administration to take four broad steps: 

First, we must dramatically reform our permitting process for strategic manufacturing facilities. While China can build a factory in months, American companies often wait years for permits. This regulatory burden is crushing our ability to rapidly scale the production of critical components. 

Second, we need to level the playing field against China’s predatory practices. This means addressing everything from raw material costs to energy rates to shipping subsidies. These artificial costs squeeze what American companies can pay their workforce.  

When Chinese manufacturers can access materials and energy at a fraction of what American companies pay, we’re not competing on merit – we’re competing against a government-subsidized adversary that has been intentionally de-industrializing the U.S. for 30 years. Americans can compete, but not against the Chinese Communist Party making everything from energy to raw materials free. One hundred billion dollars of currently offshored manufacturing business from American companies sourcing in China could return overnight as a result of a more level playing field, creating a jobs boom unlike anything we’ve seen since the ’40s. 

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Race-Baiter Elie Mystal Has EPIC Meltdown Against White People — Blames Them for High Egg Prices Just 5 Days into Trump’s Presidency

In a recent appearance on MSNBC, race baiter Elie Mystal erupted in a fiery tirade against White Americans, blaming them for sustaining what he calls a “disgusting version of America,” all within the first week of President Donald Trump’s term.

This outburst followed Trump’s controversial decision to pardon over a thousand participants of the January 6 Capitol riots.

Mystal had an epic meltdown during a discussion about the broader implications of Trump’s pardons, which he referred to as predictable to those who’ve been paying attention.

“We tried to tell you all,” said Mystal. “Ali, I wrote specifically about this issue, what he was going to do to the Department of Justice multiple times during the election cycle Because as you pointed out in your open, this was all written down.

“I don’t like the shock and awe version of this, because if you had been paying attention, they wrote it down. They told you exactly what they were going to do and exactly how you were going to do it. A majority of White people voted for this. This is the disgusting version of America that people want,” he added.

Mystal then ridiculously blamed White people for the recent spike in egg prices—a mere five days into Donald Trump’s second term as President.

“And, by the way, eggs are still more expensive so you didn’t even get that, great job, white folks!”

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Egg Prices Catapult Into ‘Blue-Sky Breakout’ As Bird Flu Sparks Worsening Shortage

An ongoing and devastating avian influenza outbreak has severely dented the nation’s egg-producing hen population, driving wholesale prices into record-high territory and far surpassing the price explosion seen a few years ago when the bird flu first emerged. This is an alarming trend, and egg prices at the supermarket will likely rise further in the weeks and months ahead.

The latest wholesale data from Urner Barry shows that the price for a dozen eggs has jumped to a record high of $5.4, exceeding the previous peak of $4.65 set in December 2022. Rising wholesale prices are expected to continue pressuring supermarket prices higher.

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New York Times Complains Labeling Mexican Cartels Terrorist Organizations Will ‘Hurt The U.S. Economy’

As Donald Trump gets to work on his agenda, left-wing media organizations like The New York Times are already making fools of themselves.

On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order designating Mexican drug cartels as foreign terror organizations.

His order stated:

The Cartels have engaged in a campaign of violence and terror throughout the Western Hemisphere that has not only destabilized countries with significant importance for our national interests but also flooded the United States with deadly drugs, violent criminals, and vicious gangs.

The Cartels functionally control, through a campaign of assassination, terror, rape, and brute force nearly all illegal traffic across the southern border of the United States.

In certain portions of Mexico, they function as quasi-governmental entities, controlling nearly all aspects of society.

The Cartels’ activities threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere.

Their activities, proximity to, and incursions into the physical territory of the United States pose an unacceptable national security risk to the United States.

However, The New York Times is now arguing that this move will damage the U.S. economy because of the risk of businesses in both countries violating sanctions against terrorist groups.

Their article states.

The foreign terrorist designation could lead to severe penalties — including substantial fines, asset seizures and criminal charges — on companies and individuals found to be paying ransom or extortion payments.

U.S. companies could also be ensnared by standard payments made to Mexican companies that a cartel controls without the American companies’ knowledge.

As a result, companies in the risk-averse American financial sector may simply refuse to wire money to a Mexican factory, for example, to facilitate cross-border production and trade, or to wire money between personal accounts.

…

If money transfer companies like Western Union also stop transactions to Mexico over worries about properly vetting Mexican clients, it could affect the remittances the country relies on.

That would be devastating for the Mexican economy, which received $63.3 billion in remittances in 2023, nearly 5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

The Mexican peso has suffered as a result of the designation, as well as the looming threat of tariffs and trade barriers.

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Joe Biden’s farewell letter is full of classic Biden whoppers

On Joe Biden’s way out of office, he and his puppet masters are doing everything they can to tie Trump’s hands so they can blame him for failing to lower inflation, eliminate unnecessary federal workers, lower energy prices, and deport as many illegals as he promised and should.

They are also rewriting history, pretending that Biden’s four years in office made the world and America safer and more prosperous.

And now, Biden has issued a farewell letter, which was full of class Biden whoppers. Biden has been a serial liar throughout his fifty years in office so it’s completely expected, but he’s really outdone himself this time, starting out with one of his biggest, continuous lies, i.e. that he inherited the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and his policies turned it around. From a report at Fox News:

Biden began his letter by writing that four years ago when he took office, ‘We were in the grip of the worst pandemic in a century, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression….’

The media know, or should know, that Biden inherited a rapidly growing economy, yet we see very few who correct Biden’s lies—so most Americans probably believe he actually did inherit a disaster. What Biden was actually handed though was a rapidly growing economy, low energy prices, overall inflation of 1.4%, a fairly secure border, and a relatively peaceful world—his executive orders and policies instantly undid all of that, and made things much worse for the last four years.

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Seattle’s new $20 minimum wage claims 6th restaurant casualty since New Year

Seattle’s new $20 minimum wage for 2025 has caused a 6th restaurant to close since the new year.

Pike Place Market bakery The Confectional closed on Sunday after 18 years in business.

Owner Destiny Sund told KIRO News Radio, “I wanted my team to have a wonderful holiday season, so I didn’t mention to them that we would be closing until after New Year’s Day. So this has been a long week for all of us at The Confectional.”

The minimum wage for all employees in the city limits, regardless of business size, jumped to $20.76 on January 1. Last year, if a worker earned at least $2.72 per hour in medical benefits or tips, the business only had to pay its employees $17.25 per hour, but now, for those businesses that featured tips, the change to the minimum wage was a 20 percent increase. The Emerald City’s increase is $4 more than Washington State’s minimum wage requirement.

Sund added, “That allowed businesses 50 employees or under to subtract $2.00 from the minimum wage. If they could make it up in tips and or benefits. And my employees did make that up in tips.”

She continued, “And just doing the math with the additional increase and the loss of the tip credit, it would cost my business an additional $18,000. And that’s just not sustainable.”

At least five other restaurants in Seattle have closed or are closing just days after the city council’s new minimum wage law went into effect.

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