US savings rate hits lowest levels since 2008, economists say Americans have 'excess savings' that will provide a buffer



As inflation spirals out of control and pandemic-related stimulus runs dry, Americans are increasingly finding it hard to save money.

This past April, the U.S. personal savings rate fell to 4.4%. According to data from the U.S. Commerce Department, this is the lowest this metric has been since September 2008, Yahoo Finance reported.

“In a typical cycle, a sharp drop in the savings rate would be a warning sign about the sustainability of spending,” Wells Fargo economists, led by Tim Quinlan, wrote in a public note this past week.

The note continued, “Because balance sheets are in such better shape, we see less cause for concern for today. In fact, it is actually our baseline forecast for the saving rate to fall below its prior-cycle average of 7.2% through the end of 2023.”

The personal savings rate is a data series that is one of the most inversely impacted by the government’s efforts to bolster the economy through the COVID-19 pandemic. A steep decline in the amount of money Americans have been able to save has been expected for some time.

In April 2020, the savings rate hit a record 33.8% as stimulus checks from the government provided consumers with much needed relief as the nationwide response to COVID-19 kept many people at home and forced businesses to close.

Economists believe that there are trillions of dollars in unused savings that Americans can use to keep themselves afloat despite a rapidly increasing number of Americans not being able to contribute to their savings and grow their nest eggs.

Ian Shepherdson at Pantheon Macroeconomics said that Americans becoming unable to save their earnings is “no big deal.”

The macroeconomist said, “The stock of excess savings is still $2.2 [trillion], and the rundown over the past three months has averaged only $41 [billion] per month.”

Shepherdson continued, “This can continue for a long time yet, but that won’t be necessary as real incomes will start to rise again in the second half [of 2022].”

Wells Fargo economists recently estimated that U.S. consumers have around $2.3 trillion of savings they labeled “excess savings.” This label denotes savings above and beyond wheat pre-pandemic trends showed the American public being able to save.

These economists noted, “Households have accumulated an estimated that $2.3 trillion (not annualized) on their balance sheets and household net worth rose about 30% over the past two years through the fourth quarter. This overall rise in net worth is true across wealth percentiles and leaves households in a relatively better financial position than after past recessions.”

Congressional Republicans submit a bill to define what a woman is



Republicans in Congress have introduced a bill to define what a woman is.

Republican Representative Debbie Lesko from Arizona sponsored a “Women’s Bill of Rights” to provide additional legal protections to women under federal law, RedState reported.

Noting that establishing a standard for identifying people on the basis of their sex is crucial to societal stability, H. Res. 1136 states: “[T]here are important reasons to distinguish between the sexes with respect to athletics, prisons, domestic violence shelters, restrooms, and other areas, particularly where biology, safety, and privacy are implicated.”

The proposed legislation states that “males and females possess unique and immutable biological difference that manifest prior to birth and increase as they age and experience puberty” and that “biological differences between the sexes can expose females to more harm than males from specific forms of violence, including sexual violence.”

It even defies current leftwing orthodoxy by declaring that only women are able to get pregnant. The bill states “biological difference between the sexes mean that only females may get pregnant, give birth, and breastfeed children.”

The bill also indicates that motherhood and fatherhood are reserved for women and men respectively. The bill states “for purposes of Federal law, the word ‘mother’ means a parent of the female sex and ‘father’ is defined as a parent of the male sex.”

Republican Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana, Mary Miller of Illinois, Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee, Claudia Tenney of New York, Vicky Hartzler of Missouri, Doug Lambron of Kansas, Ronny Jackson of Texas, Doug LaMalfa, Victoria Spartz of Indiana, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, and Barry Moore of Alabama submitted the bill along side Lesko.

Banks, who also serves as the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, argued that this legislation is critical in order to protect the rights of women from leftist attacks.

He said, “The modern Democrat party has put the Left’s woke agenda before the rights of women. These days, Democrats refuse to even admit women exist or recognize them as unique beings, with unique abilities. While radical liberals strip away the progress and protections that generations of women fought to achieve. Republicans must fight back and acknowledge these basic biological truths. AS the father of three daughters, I’m proud to co-lead this resolution reaffirming the legal protections afforded to them under federal law.”

According to a press release from the Republican Study Committee, H. Res. 1136 is also supported by several outside women’s interest organizations such as the Independent Women’s Law Center, Concerned Women for America LAC, Women’s Liberation Front, and the Eagle Forum.

America's beef supply is expected to shrink as drought and rising production costs prevent ranchers from growing their herds



Beef prices are likely to continue rising as U.S. based cattle ranchers continue to shrink the size of their herds.

This move is expected to further constrain U.S. beef production in the coming months, the Wall Street Journal reported. Data from the federal government confirms that rising costs for feed and other expenses are encouraging ranchers to sell to sell calves into feedlots around the country at a faster rate which leaves fewer cattle available for slaughter. It is expected that this will become more pronounced later this year and into 2023.

Persistent drought conditions throughout the Western U.S. have decimated grazing pastures which causes cattle farmers to spend more money on supplemental feed which presents another major problem for the beef industry.

By 2023, beef production is expected to decline by 7% and cattle prices are expected to increase to record highs. These increased costs and shrinking supply pose serious problems for meatpackers like Tyson Foods Inc., JBS USA holdings Inc., Cargill Inc., and National Beef Packing Co. It is likely that the increased cost of beef production is already being passed onto consumers. The more expensive it is to raise and maintain cows, and as fewer cows are raised for slaughter, the more expensive beef products will eventually cost. Ground beef and chicken prices have already reached all-time highs.

Jeanie Alderson, a fourth-generation rancher in Birney, Montana, said that she sold about 75 aging mother cows from her heard of around 250 in recent months. Typically, Alderson would buy new cows in the spring to replace the ones she sold off but she said that it has been too expensive for her to take any more into her herd this year.

Alderson indicated that wildfires in the southeastern portion of Montana are burning up the pastures where her cattle typically feed and that some of her fellow Montana ranchers have had to spend more money on expensive livestock feeds. These additional expenses and hardships are causing ranchers to reduce the size of the herds.

Alderson said, “It’s really stressful. A lot of ranchers are in deep, deep debt and if they have to go more in debt, some people will go out of business in the next few years.”

Drought conditions and higher operating costs encouraged ranchers to rapidly cull beef cows in the first quarter of 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Iowa State University estimates that American cattle producers have lost money five of the past eight months.

Baby formula out-of-stock rates soared to 70% in May, formula won't be restocked until July



The baby formula shortage continues to grow worse as shelves grow increasingly sparse and baby formula manufacturers and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continue to take a barrage of bipartisan criticisms.

In recent weeks, the out-of-stock rate for baby formula rose to 70% nationwide according to current data gathered by the retail data firm Datasembly, Fox Business reported. This marks a drastic increase in scarcity from the previous weeks when the national out-of-stock rate for baby formula stood at 45%.

In April, the gathered data suggested that baby formula shortages would hit 30% before jumping to 43% in early May, indicating that the formula shortage would grow far worse before it got any better.

The Sturgis, Michigan facility of Abbott Nutrition, which is at the center of the industry-wide formula shortage, is expected to restart production on June 4. However, according to the company’s timeline, this means that formula produced during this period won’t be available for purchase until mid-July at the soonest.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf was once again questioned by lawmakers on Wednesday in a congressional hearing regarding why the FDA took months to inspect and shutter the Abbott Nutrition facility despite learning of potential problems months before the shortage occurred.

Last fall, the FDA began zeroing in on the Abbott facility in Michigan while tracking several bacterial infections in infants who had consumed formula manufactured by the company. The four cases the FDA was tracking occurred between this past September and January, two of the infants died, and others were hospitalized.

The FDA was scheduled to begin inspecting the plant late last December, but, according to Abbott, about a dozen employees had tested positive for COVID-19, and the company subsequently requested to reschedule the FDA's investigation. Because of this, the FDA was unable to begin its inspection until the end of January.

The FDA is still unable to reach a conclusion as to whether the bacteria found in the plant is what caused the infant infections. Abbott claims that there is no direct evidence linking its products to the illnesses and deaths.

Abbott’s Vice President Christopher Calamari apologized to lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives while he was being questioned on Wednesday, but he stopped short of directly answering whether employees were terminated or otherwise disciplined for problems found at the Michigan facility including standing water, a leaky roof, and damaged equipment.

South Korea's new president says he will no longer appease Kim Jong Un, says recent attempts at peace with North Korea were a 'proven failure'



South Korea’s days of appeasing its neighbor to the north are over, as South Korea’s new president, Yoon Suk Yeol, said that any new talks between the two countries must be initiated by Kim Jong Un.

Yoon said, “I think the ball is in Chairman Kim’s court – it is his choice to start a dialogue with us.”

The North Korean government has recently resumed testing missiles, testing more so far in 2022 than in the past two years combined. CNN reported that Kim also recently vowed to “strengthen and develop” his country’s nuclear forces at the “highest possible” speed.

Nevertheless, Yoon said that South Korea and its allies are ready to stand against any acts of North Korean provocation.

Yoon lambasted his predecessor’s conciliatory approach to diplomacy with North Korea.

He said, “Just to escape temporarily North Korean provocation or conflict is not something that we should do. This kind of approach over the past five years has proven to be a failure.”

Yoon is a former prosecutor and a newcomer to politics. He consistently has emphasized the need for taking a stronger stance toward North Korea and expressed an ardent desire to strengthen the South’s military. Both of these approaches mark a significant departure from Yoon’s predecessor, Moon Jae-in, who routinely promoted amicable dialogue with the North and advocated for a peaceful reconciliation between the two Koreas.

Despite what some may interpret as blatant hostility toward North Korea, Yoon said that he didn’t want North Korea to “collapse” but that he also did not think the South’s communist neighbor should be emboldened to continue the development of its nuclear arsenal.

He said, “What I want is shared and common prosperity on the Korean Peninsula. I do not believe that enhancing [North Korea’s] nuclear capability is helpful and conducive to maintaining international peace.”

Throughout his campaign for the South Korean presidency, Yoon emphasized the importance of South Korea’s close security alliance with the U.S.

After Yoon’s recent meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, the two leaders announced in a joint statement that they would begin discussions on restarting and potentially expanding joint military drills. This move is expected to anger North Korean leadership, as Kim Jong Un is expected to perceive the renewed exercises as a direct threat to his nation’s sovereignty

Despite Yoon’s hesitance to engage in dialogue with his North Korean counterparts, Biden insisted that he would meet with Kim if he was “sincere and whether he was serious.”

American households are spending $5,000 a year on gas as prices rise and economic woes worsen



U.S. households are expected to spend an average of $5,000 on gasoline this year.

Yardeni Research concluded that Americans are paying considerably more at the pump this year, CNBC reported. By Yardeni Research’s estimates, Americans were spending a mere $2,800 last year.

The rapid pace at which gas prices continue to increase drastically affects the estimated annual sum Americans are expected to pay. This past March, Americans were expected to pay an estimated $3,800 at the pump in 2022.

The American Automobile Association (AAA) reported that in March the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline was $4.22. CNBC noted that the average price for a gallon of gasoline during the week of May 16 was $4.59. A year ago, at this time, a gallon of gasoline was $3.04.

“No wonder the Consumer Sentiment Index is so depressed. The wonder is that retail sales have been so surprisingly strong during April and May,” Yardeni said in a note.

Yardeni stated that the inflation-adjusted incomes of most consumers are barely growing and that they have accumulated a decent amount of savings while charging a lot more on their credit cards.

However, Yardeni indicated that the American consumers’ spending habits are somewhat counterintuitive, which might give the economy an illusion of strength.

Yardeni stated, “When we are happy, we spend money. When we are depressed, we spend even more money!”

For instance, despite the Consumer Price Index surging by 8.3% in April and a massive technology stock sell-off, retail sales rose by 8.2%.

Gasoline sales actually declined in April from March, as prices temporarily fell before ramping up to record levels in early May. Spending on gasoline in April increased by nearly 37% from a year ago, according to data from the Department of Commerce.

Not only are Americans paying more for necessary products, like gasoline, but their earnings in real wages are falling rapidly.

As inflation continues to spiral out of control, the average hourly earnings for employees on private nonfarm payrolls cannot keep up. These payrolls rose by only 0.3% in April, which was far lower than what was expected by economists.

This 0.3% growth was also far below April’s inflationary increase of 8.3% and March’s 8.5% increase.

According to this data, the real earnings of the American people appear to be falling by multiple percentage points.

Economic experts expect similar economic woes to continue occurring throughout the world as global stock markets continue to hemorrhage money.

Russian oil revenues up 50% as Western sanctions on oil exports prove ineffective



Russian oil revenues have risen by 50% since the beginning of the year despite Western nations attempting to isolate and weaken the Russian economy.

The Epoch Times reported that a new report released by the International Energy Agency (IEA) revealed that the Russian Federation had earned about $20 billion each month in 2022. Russian oil producers sold roughly eight million barrels of oil per day.

Russian oil companies were able to achieve this feat largely because Western nations were unable to come to a consensus on isolating Russia’s oil industry in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

While the U.S. sanctioned Russian oil in early March, the European Union (EU) and its member states were unable to reach a unanimous agreement to ban the import of Russian oil by member nations. About two-thirds of the oil imported by EU member states comes from Russia, so the continued import of this oil, despite thorough sanctions on other sectors of the Russian economy, continues to provide Russia with a vital lifeline.

The European bloc continues to be the largest consumer of Russian oil. Despite the EU member nations presenting themselves as united in diplomatic and economic opposition to the Russian regime, they account for roughly 43% of all Russian oil exported in April.

Last March, economist Elana Ribakova suggested there might be a latent paradox that could arise should Western nations move to sanction Russian oil. Ribakova indicated that, in theory, imposing sanctions on Russia, which is one of the world’s leading exporters of natural gas and petroleum, would cause a scarcity of oil-based resources, causing prices to rise. These rising prices would in turn present Russia with an opportunity to collect higher revenues through exporting the products to countries not sanctioning the industry, thus rendering any sanctioning regime’s attempts counterproductive.

In early March Ribakova said, “10$ on oil price gives Russia [about] $20 [billion] of current account inflows per year. With imports collapsing[,] Russia’s 2022 current account could exceed $200 billion. Despite ~40% of $640 [billion] [Bank of Russia] reserves arrested, Russia could rebuild buffers from the current account surplus.”

10$ on oil price gives Russia ~ $20 bn of current account inflows per year. With imports collapsing Russia's 2022 current account could exceed $200 bn.\n\nDespite ~ 40% of $640 bn @bank_of_russia reserves arrested, Russia could rebuild buffers from the current account surplus.pic.twitter.com/z1gXkRGCby
— Elina Ribakova \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Elina Ribakova \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1646609528

Countries like China and India have not shied away from purchasing Russian fuel since the Ukraine invasion commenced, and with some EU member states continuing to import Russian oil, Russia will likely survive any current and future sanction packages that don’t affect its ability to export oil.

The truth is out there: Congress will hold the first open hearing about UFOs in over 50 years, Pentagon officials set to testify



A subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives will be holding an open congressional hearing next week about unidentified flying objects (UFOs) for the first time in more than 50 years.

Andre Carson, a Democratic representative from Indiana, said that the House Intelligence Committee will be leading the charge, Vice reported.

He said, “Congress hasn’t held a public hearing on unidentified aerial phenomena (UFO's) in over 50 years. That will change next week when I lead a hearing in @HouseIntel on this topic & the national security risk it poses. Americans need to know more about these unexplained occurrences.”

The hearing is currently scheduled for Tuesday, May 17, and it will take place in front of a subcommittee of the House Intelligence Committee that is currently chaired California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff.

Schiff said that the committee is holding the series of hearings to explore “one of the great mysteries of our time and to break the cycle of excessive secrecy and speculation with truth and transparency.”

At the time of writing, two officials currently serving in the Pentagon are scheduled to testify at the hearing.

After the New York Times published a 2017 article about the existence of a project called “the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP)” in the Pentagon that was focused on the identification of UFOs, official government disclosures about UFOs have come with increasingly rapidity.

In 2021, the Pentagon released a report about its UFO program that detailed more than 140 sightings of aerial objects that could not be explained between 2004 and 2021. The report was considered to be relatively underwhelming at the time, because much of the information had already been disclosed and much of the report was simply concerned with securing additional funding for the Pentagon.

The Black Vault, a government transparency organization, was able to obtain a classified version of this report earlier this year. Reportedly, this version of the report contains more fascinating details but still has considerable parts of it redacted.

Since the 2021 report was released, various outlets have obtained hundreds of pages of reports and research on futuristic technology funded by the government under the auspices of the AATIP and a sister program called the Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Application Program.

The Barack Obama Presidential Library has also said that it has thousands of pages of documents pertaining to UFOs.

A Pennsylvania middle school reportedly tries to conceal student's gender preferences from their parents



A middle school in Pennsylvania reportedly has been encouraging teachers to conceal a student’s preferred pronouns and gender preference from the student's parents.

The New York Post reported that an email conversation between teachers and a school counselor at the Charles F. Patton Middle School in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, revealed that the student “prefers the pronouns they/them.”

“She is fine too, but [the student] likes ‘they/them’ the best,” the school counselor said via email.

The educator also suggested that “if you are emailing home, it may be best to use she/her when referring to [the student].”

The teacher’s email reportedly contained “A Guide to Supporting Trans and Gender Diverse Students,” authored by the American Psychological Association.

Reportedly an email exchange also occurred between a school counselor and two teachers about a club at the Unionville High School called the “Gender Sexuality Alliance.”

The school website described the student organization as “a student-run club which provides a safe place for students to meet, support each other, talk about issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity and expression, and work to end homophobia and transphobia.”

A counselor and teacher from the Charles F. Patton Middle School discussed how to start a similar club at their school or how they might be able to give their students the opportunity to attend Gender Sexuality Alliance meetings at Unionville High.

Emails also revealed that when an online assignment prompted a student to describe themselves as being "pansexual," the school counselor encouraged the student’s teacher to “ask [the student] if they would be interested in starting some type of club or group to focus on LGBTQ+ topics/issues.”

Another teacher reportedly wrote, “Middle schoolers are NOT too young to know their sexual orientations and gender identities. LGBTQ-related content is age appropriate for them.”

Fox News reported that No Left Turn in Education, a group saying they “believe that K-12 education should be free from indoctrination and politicization,” heavily criticized the school’s actions.

The organization’s president, Dr. Elana Fishbein, said, “It is unconscionable for any teacher to go behind a parent's back to meddle in a child's mental, physical and emotional health. While us concerned parents get called domestic terrorists, it's the radical ideologues who actually threaten, harass, and intimidate parents who object to their woke agenda. No Left Turn in Education is standing up for these families and is holding officials accountable for enforcing the laws that are supposed to protect our kids.”

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signs law criminalizing the distribution of abortion pills through mail



Tennessee’s Republican Governor Bill Lee signed a bill into law on Thursday that increases criminal penalties for anyone found to be distributing chemical abortive pills through either telehealth programs or the mail.

The Tennessean reported that this new legislation will prohibit any remote distribution of chemically abortive pharmaceuticals. However, the law will not prohibit the prescription of such substances in person by a physician.

After prescribing chemical abortives to patients, physicians are not required to monitor them during or after they take the drugs, but they are responsible for a ensuring a follow-up appointment with the patient within two weeks. Should this procedure not be followed, the legislation stipulates that they will be committing a Class E felony punishable by a fine up to $50,000.

Chemical abortive pills are increasingly common among women seeking to terminate early-term pregnancies up to 10 weeks. In 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the delivery of these drugs, along with telehealth being allowed to dispense the pills amid access concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists previously endorsed chemical abortions as a safe procedure.

According to the most recent available data, more than 75% of abortions in Tennessee occurred within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy in 2018.

The new Tennessee legislation mirrors pro-life initiatives that have gained traction across the U.S. in recent months following the FDA’s approval of chemical abortive distribution and in the days since a draft majority opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court leaked indicating that the nation’s highest court was preparing to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The leaked draft decision comes from a case pertaining to a challenge to a pro-life law in Mississippi.

Chief Justice John Roberts issued a statement confirming the authenticity of the leaked draft opinion. Roberts said that the draft opinion was not final and that the court’s consensus could change.

In 2019, the state of Tennessee passed a law that would automatically ban abortion in the state if the Supreme Court overturns or alters Roe v. Wade. The law would make it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion, while the women seeking abortions would be exempt from prosecution.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, a leftist nonprofit organization that is, according to its website, “committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide,” more than 20 states are prepared to implement additional abortion restrictions should Roe v. Wade be overturned.