Connect with us

Business

Canada’s Jordan Peterson proposing alternative to “apocalyptic narrative” of the World Economic Forum

Published

less than 1 minute read

From Jordan B. Peterson

Recently, on the Joe Rogan Experience, I announced the establishment of a new international movement, open to the public, devoted to developing an invitational vision of the future, trying to collectively formulate the answer to six key questions. We invite all those who might be interested to contribute to the conversation. Our inaugural conference will take place in London, England Oct 31, Nov 1 and Nov 2, 2023. More details about the organization, public participation and the conference will be announced as soon as possible. Watch the full episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4GJZ…

Todayville is a digital media and technology company. We profile unique stories and events in our community. Register and promote your community event for free.

Follow Author

Business

Trump says ‘nicer,’ ‘kinder’ tariffs will generate federal revenue

Published on

From The Center Square

ByĀ 

President Donald Trump says the slate of tariffs he plans to announce Wednesday will be “nicer,” “kinder” and “more generous” than other countries have treated the U.S.

Trump plans to unveil reciprocal tariffs on all nations that put duties on U.S. imports Wednesday, which the president has been calling “Liberation Day” for American trade.

Trump’s latest comments on tariffs come as he aims to reshape the global economy to reduce U.S. trade deficits and generate billions in federal revenue through higher taxes on imported products.

Trump’s trade policies have upended U.S. and global markets, but the president has yet to get into specifics ahead of Wednesday’s planned announcement.

At the start of March, Trump told a joint session of Congress that he planned to put reciprocal tariffs in place starting April 2.

“Whatever they tariff us, we tariff them. Whatever they tax us, we tax them,” Trump said. “If they do non-monetary tariffs to keep us out of their market, then we do non-monetary barriers to keep them out of our market. We will take in trillions of dollars and create jobs like we have never seen before.”

On Sunday night, Trump said on Air Force One that U.S. tariffs would beĀ “nicer,” “kinder” and “more generous” than how other countries have treated the U.S.

Last week, TrumpĀ announcedĀ a 25% tariff on imported automobiles, duties that he said would be “permanent.” The White House said it expects the auto tariffs on cars and light-duty trucks will generate up to $100 billion in federal revenue. Trump said eventually he hopes to bring in $600 billion to $1 trillion in tariff revenue in the next year or two. Trump also said the tariffs would lead to a manufacturing boom in the U.S., with auto companies building new plants, expanding existing plants and adding jobs.

Trump predicts his protectionist trade policies will create jobs, make the nation rich and help reduce both trade deficits and the federal government’s persistentĀ deficits.

The “Liberation Day” tariffs come after months of talk since Trump took office in January. On the campaign trail, Trump frequently called “tariff” the most beautiful word in the English language.

James Dorn, senior fellow emeritus at the Cato Institute, said Trump’s rhetoric on tariffs doesn’t match the economic reality of Americans.

“Tariffs expand the scope of government, politicize economic life, increase uncertainty, and reduce individual freedom,” heĀ wrote. “Government officials gain arbitrary power while market participants face fewer opportunities for mutually beneficial exchanges and greater uncertainty as the rules of the game change.”

Dorn said consumers would pay the price.

“Tariffs are levied on U.S. importers as goods ā€“ both final and intermediate ā€“subject to the tariff enter the country,” he wrote. “Importers and consumers typically end up paying the tariffs, as they cut into profit margins and drive consumer prices up.”

Business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Farm Bureau Federation, have urged Trump to back off tariff threats.

Trump has promised that his tariffs would shift the tax burden away from Americans and onto foreign countries, but tariffs are generally paid by the people who import the foreign products. Those importers then have a choice: absorb the loss or pass it on to consumers through higher prices. The president also promised tariffs would make America “rich as hell.”

Continue Reading

Business

Bidenā€™s Greenhouse Gas ā€˜Greendoggleā€™ Slush Fund Is Unraveling

Published on

 

From theĀ Daily Caller News Foundation

By Michael Chamberlain

We warned you: this gas didnā€™t smell right from the beginning.

The Greendoggle has made the big time! Not every shady government giveaway to special interests gets its ownĀ Wall Street JournalĀ editorial.

But how often does the new EPA administrator announce that his staff hasĀ discovered that $20 billionĀ that had been appropriated for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF or ā€œGreendoggleā€) had been ā€œparkedā€ in a bank by the Biden EPA until it could be ladled out as grants to climate industry cronies? Thatā€™s what Administrator Lee Zeldin announced back in February, referencing a Biden appointee who was infamously caught on tape explaining that the agency was ā€œthrowing gold bars off the Titanicā€ ā€“ trying to get the unspent money out of the reach of the Trump administration. Zeldinā€™s ā€œclawing backā€ that money, and the lawsuit by ā€œpublic-private investment fundā€ Climate United to get the $7 billion it was awarded, has got the media paying attention. Finally.

Administrator Zeldinā€™sĀ announcementĀ that EPA is taking back the $2 billion awarded to an organization tied to prominent political figures marks another auspicious turn in the GGRF saga, which Protect the Publicā€™s Trust (PPT) has followed and warned about since theĀ beginning. Passed as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (Mr. Orwell, please call your office ā€¦), the GGRF was a massive spending program that would provide funds to environmentalist groups to finance green technology projects.Ā The sheer amount of money Congress shoveled at the EPA was unprecedented. Unfortunately, it didnā€™t come with commensurate oversight resources ā€“ Mr. Zeldin says this was by design. The result was the Greendoggle, an environmentalist slush fund administered by insiders for insiders.

According toĀ emailsĀ PPT obtained via FOIAĀ request, the EPA invited a group of green activist organizations and thinktanks to a highly irregular November 2022Ā meetingĀ to ā€œprovide early feedback on the RFI and ask clarifying questions.ā€ And, as PPTĀ foresaw, several groups with ties to EPA officials are on the invitation list. EPAā€™s ā€œrevolving doorā€ with radical environmental groups spun fast in the Biden years.

PPT dug in and researched the green banks, finding multiple insider connections to the Biden administration. ā€œWith $27 billion dollars sloshing around, the American public should be on high alert for waste, fraud and abuse,ā€ weĀ warnedĀ in October 2023.

The next month, when the ā€œshort listā€ of coalitions vying to become GGRF distributors was announced, the Daily Caller News Foundationā€™s Nick Pope, whose reporting on the GGRF since early on has been essential in exposing the Greendoggle,Ā revealedĀ it featured ā€œseveral organizations with considerable connections to the Biden administration, as well as the Democratic Party and its allies.ā€ To put it mildly.

As the Greendoggle came together, the legacy media remained incurious, but for anyone paying attention, it smelled bad. There seemed to be no accountability, and given theĀ Biden EPAā€™s ethical track record, that was concerning, to say the least.

One of the eight entities eventually chosen was theĀ Coalition for Green CapitalĀ (CGC), a green bank whose mission is to ā€œaccelerate the deployment of clean energy technology throughout the US while maintaining a targeted focus on underserved markets.ā€ CGC board member David Hayes left the organization for nearly two years to join the Biden White House Climate Policy OfficeĀ as a special assistant to the president. He then went back to the CGC board. As PPT put it inĀ a complaintĀ it filed in June 2024 with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics and the EPAā€™s inspector general (and which the Zeldin EPA cited in its legal defense of the clawback), while at the White House Hayes ā€œpresumably worked at the highest level on the very GGRF program from which CGC sought funding upon his return. This timing is suspect considering CGC itself publicly announced his return to its board as part of its effort to obtain GGRF funding.ā€ Not very subtle, but it worked. CGC got a $5 billion windfall out of the Greendoggle.

It just so happened that, while Mr. Hayes was in the administration, so was another CGC veteran,Ā Jahi Wise. Like Hayes, Wise was a special climate assistant to the president, until he joined the EPA in December 2022 as ā€¦ founding director of GGRF. Subtlety doesnā€™t seem to be among the skill sets CGC looks for in its people. Wise at least didnā€™t return to CGC after that. He joined a George Soros foundation.

The GGRF should become a metaphor for congressional shortsightedness, bureaucratic arrogance and the venality of special interests at the government trough. The ā€œgreenā€ industry is an industry like any other, green special interests are special interests and the color of a taxpayer dollar doesnā€™t change because itā€™s being wasted in a nominally noble cause.

The Greendoggle stank, gas and all.

Michael Chamberlain is Director of Protect the Publicā€™s Trust.

Continue Reading

Trending

X