Biden Shifting Away From 'Bidenomics' Talk As Public Remains Skeptical On Economy

 by Andrew Moran via The Epoch Times,

A word once a badge of honor for President Joe Biden might have turned into a political liability. "Bidenomics," a term used to describe his economic doctrine, is being used less, and the press is beginning to take notice.

In recent weeks, President Biden has refrained from uttering "Bidenomics." It has been absent in nearly all of his public appearances this month, from his prepared remarks in Colorado, where he touted the Inflation Reduction Act, to his speeches at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in California.

The last time President Biden touted the term was in a Nov. 1 speech in Minnesota, where he mentioned it four times and compared it to the American Dream.

"Folks, Bidenomics is just another way of saying 'the American Dream,'" President Biden said then.

But it has not entirely disappeared. Instead, President Biden's re-election campaign has used the "Bidenomics" branding in subtler forms. During the Colorado event, there were signs with the label. The term is also inserted into the title of President Biden's events or speeches. His team has used it in social media messages.

“In Colorado, [Biden] highlighted how Bidenomics is creating jobs and opportunities – unleashing over $7 billion in new investments across the state,” the White House wrote on X (previously Twitter) on Nov. 30.

Mainstream media outlets, including NBC News, have noticed that the White House has removed the term when President Biden talks about the economy.

A chorus of prominent Democrats and many of President Biden's allies and supporters have warned that the "Bidenomics" branding would backfire because many Americans are still financially struggling and might link their challenges with the economic message.

"Whatever stories Americans are told about the strength of the economy under President Joe Biden, they are not going to be persuaded to look past the issue of their own living standards," liberal economist James Galbraith wrote last month.

A plethora of polls have highlighted the same thing: A majority of U.S. voters do not like "Bidenomics."

According to a new Gallup poll, 67 percent of Americans disapprove of the way President Biden is handling the economy. A recent Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll found that just 44 percent of respondents approve of President Biden's handling of the economy. Just 14 percent of U.S. voters say they are better off financially now than when President Biden took office, a new Financial Times-University of Michigan monthly survey learned.

"With less than a year to go until the presidential election, Biden continues to receive tepid ratings from the American public. His overall job approval rating is still at his personal low and is in historically dangerous territory for an incumbent seeking reelection," Gallup wrote in its summary of the latest polling data.

"In addition, political independents’ record-low rating of Biden is striking. Biden’s even weaker ratings on the economy, foreign affairs and the Middle East suggest that his performance in these areas is dragging down his overall job performance rating."

The White House insists that the U.S. economy is heading on the right track, alluding to various data points to support these claims.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told reporters in North Carolina on Nov. 30 that "inflation has now come way down" and "now wage gains are really translating into more real income."

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks at an event on the Biden administration’s economic strategy toward the Indo-Pacific in Washington on Nov. 2, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

"So my hope is that Americans gradually will see that things are getting better," Ms. Yellen said.

The headline numbers have pointed to a robust economic landscape.

In the third quarter, the GDP growth rate clocked in at a better-than-expected 5.2 percent, although government spending contributed 1.5 percent to the final print.

Despite the Federal Reserve’s rising interest rates, the labor market remains solid, with an unemployment rate below 4 percent and millions of new jobs in 2023.

However, the higher cost of living continues to affect voters’ perception of the economy.

The headline inflation rate remains above 3 percent, down from the June 2022 peak of 9.1 percent. However, cumulative inflation since January 2021 has been more than 17 percent. Plus, there have been many other factors pointing to a struggling population.

Real wage growth has tumbled approximately 3 percent since 2021. In addition, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, real (inflation-adjusted) average hourly earnings rose by 0.2 percent in October, but "real average weekly earnings decreased 0.1 percent over the month due to the change in real average hourly earnings combined with a 0.3-percent decrease in the average workweek."

A new analysis from the U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee found that Americans require an additional $11,400 today to afford the same living standards they did in January 2021.

Lending Club data found that 60 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.

Consumers might be tapped out, too. Credit card debt topped $1 trillion in the third quarter, the personal savings rate is below 4 percent, and pandemic-era savings have been exhausted.

President Biden acknowledged that families are still enduring a rough environment.

“We know that prices are still too high for too many things, that times are still too tough for too many families,” President Biden said on Nov 27. “But we’ve made progress.”

[ZH: No... no you haven't...

...lower INFLATION does not mean lower PRICES...]

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/biden-shifting-away-bidenomics-talk-public-remains-skeptical-economy

Rogan: Democrats Have "No Cards To Play" For 2024, Except Imprisoning Trump

 by Steve Watson via Modernity.news

Podcast king Joe Rogan noted earlier this week that he believes there is no strategy for 2024 on the part of Democrats, and the only play they have is to imprison Donald Trump.

“I think at this point they kind of have to run [Biden] unless he dies,” Rogan asserted, adding “We have one year now, we’re in late November, we have less than one year. What are they going to do? If Biden died tomorrow, what do they do with Kamala Harris? Put her on the moon? What are they going to do, she’s the vice president. If he dies, she becomes the president, which is fucking wild when you hear that lady talk.”

Rogan further noted that throwing someone like California Governor Gavin Newsom in as the nominee in place of Harris would expose how lacking in direction the party has been.

“I think they have no cards and they’re looking at this game and I think they’re depending upon party loyalty and they’re depending upon Trump getting convicted and arrested and imprisoned,” Rogan contiuned.

“I don’t know if that’s going to happen. I don’t think it is. It just seems like it’s a bunch of trumped-up charges, no pun intended,” he added.

“It does make sense if you want to look at banana republic tactics, when you’re imprisoning and trying to convict your political opponents,” Rogan further stated, adding “The problem with that is, even if you think Donald Trump is a crook and should be arrested, this sets a precedent for future presidents.”

“What if someone further right than him steps in? What if a war breaks out? What if things get even crazier? What if nationalism really upticks? Then you have someone who is now in power that is far right, like happened all over the world. If that happens and that precedent has been set for prosecuting your political opponents and going after them with trumped-up charges, that is a horrible situation,” Rogan warned.

“That is one of the reasons why we have to stick with the rule of law, the way this country was founded on. These principles were set up because they wanted to mitigate corruption at its base level, they wanted to stretch it out so no one could be an authoritarian dictator and run America,” the host concluded.

Watch:

Rogan: Democrats Have "No Cards To Play" For 2024, Except Imprisoning Trump https://t.co/YHy789Uhdd #Trump2024 #JoeRogan #BidenHarris2024 pic.twitter.com/YkGljHXcyS

— m o d e r n i t y (@ModernityNews) November 30, 2023

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/rogan-democrats-have-no-cards-play-2024-except-imprisoning-trump

'IRS Warns Taxpayers That Hiring Of Tax Enforcers Will 'Ramp Up' Soon'

 by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) plans to increase its hiring of tax enforcers in coming months, the agency's chief has revealed, putting taxpayers on higher alert as the IRS bolsters the ranks of its enforcement army.

IRS commissioner Danny Werfel made the remarks on the sidelines of the Association for Federal Enterprise Risk Management’s (AFERM) annual summit on Nov. 28.

In a keynote speech at the event, Mr. Werfel said he's "cautiously optimistic" that the IRS can tap the $60 billion or so in extra federal funding to modernize its outdated IT systems, enhance employee training, and generally rebuild its capacities.

But in an interview with the Federal News Network after his speech, Mr. Werfel revealed that it's been a "very busy fall" when it comes to the agency's recruitment efforts—and that he hopes to bolster the ranks of the IRS' tax enforcement agents.

“I would expect hiring activity on the enforcement side to ramp up as we enter into 2024,” Mr. Werfel told the outlet.

'Army' of Tax Enforcers?

While Mr. Werfel didn't specify what kind of hiring numbers he's targeting, the IRS said in mid-September that it was fast-tracking the hiring of 3,700 people to assist with "expanded enforcement work" that is meant to focus on complex partnerships, big corporations, and high-income earners.

The tax enforcement positions will be open in more than 250 locations across the United States, and they are part of what the IRS has promised would be a "sweeping, historic" tax enforcement crackdown that leverages cutting-edge technology, including artificial intelligence, to catch tax evaders more effectively.

Republicans have warned that the IRS' $60 billion cash infusion from the Inflation Reduction Act would be used to hire an "army" of 87,00 tax enforcers whose work would lead to an increase in the rate of tax audits targeting ordinary Americans.

While Mr. Werfel, President Joe Biden, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and others in the administration have all promised that the IRS' enhanced enforcement work would target corporations and high-income individuals (and that the tax audit rates would not increase for Americans earning less than $400,000 per year), a watchdog has cast doubt on this pledge.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), which is the watchdog overseeing the IRS, said in a recent report that the tax agency could end up (perhaps inadvertently) breaking its promise not to target ordinary Americans because the IRS doesn't have a clear definition of "high income."

"The high-income terminology is being used loosely inside the IRS with no common understanding of what the term means,” the watchdog said.

TIGTA explained that the IRS continues to rely on old tax examination activity codes adopted half a century ago with the Tax Reform Act of 1976, which used a $200,000 threshold to measure high-income returns.

Currently, "there is no way to identify the complete population of taxpayers that meet the criterion of $400,000 or more specified by the current Treasury Secretary," the watchdog said in its report, warning that the IRS' tax enforcers could end up casting their net more widely than its chief promised.

"When the high-income thresholds are set too low, the result can be higher numbers of inefficient examinations," the watchdog said. "When the definition is too low, the base of taxpayers earning those incomes is wider so that the IRS does many more audits in that category in order to achieve desired audit coverage."

IRS Hiring Levels

Hiring at the IRS has risen by over 13 percent over the past year as the number of employees at the agency has reached a level not seen in over a decade.

Mr. Werfel told reporters this summer that the IRS was close to reaching 90,000 full-time employees.

The agency employed 79,070 full-time equivalent positions in 2022, according to the IRS’ 2022 Data Book. An increase in staffing levels to 90,000 workers represents a 13.79 percent increase in roughly a year.

The last time the IRS employed more than 90,000 people was 2012 when the agency had 90,280 full-time equivalent positions.

Staffing dipped below 80,000 in 2015 and remained below that level until now.

Not only is the IRS looking to bolster the ranks of its tax enforcers, it's also looking to hire more armed agents for its criminal investigations division.

Dubbed “gun-toters,” the armed special agents in the IRS Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) unit are responsible for enforcing those parts of the tax code whose violations amount to crimes.

Mr. Werfel told lawmakers at an April 27 hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee that the IRS-CI division would hire an estimated 360 new armed agents per year over the next five years for a net gain of 1,200 after attrition due to resignation and retirement.

The IRS chief insisted, however, that the additional hires would not be used to increase the number of tax audits.

Currently, the IRS-CI division has around 2,100 armed agents. In the mid-1990s, the unit had around 3,500 special agents. Carissa Cutrell, a public affairs officer at the agency, told The Epoch Times in an earlier statement that IRS-CI loses between 150 and 175 agents each year due to retirement and attrition.

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/irs-warns-taxpayers-hiring-tax-enforcers-will-ramp-soon

Clover Health Exits ACO REACH to Accelerate Path to Profitability

 Clover Health Investments, Corp. (NASDAQ: CLOV) (“Clover,” “Clover Health” or the “Company”), a physician enablement company committed to bringing access to great healthcare to everyone on Medicare, today announced that it has delivered notice to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) that it will exit the CMS ACO REACH Program at the end of the 2023 performance year. Written notification will also be sent to all participating physicians in accordance with CMS requirements. The decision will have no impact on its ACO REACH beneficiaries, and Clover will continue to fulfill all of its obligations under the ACO REACH Program for the 2023 performance year.

Andrew Toy, Clover Health’s Chief Executive Officer, stated: “When we entered the ACO REACH business in 2021, we felt that expanding our platform to Original Medicare would have a number of benefits, including increasing the number of lives under Clover Assistant management and enabling us to rapidly increase the number of physicians we worked with directly. And, while we were successful in those goals, we have not seen a clear line to profitability in this business and it has also become quite clear that, over the same period of time, we have made far greater and swifter strides on our path to profitability in our Medicare Advantage insurance business.”

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/12/01/2789288/0/en/Clover-Health-Exits-ACO-REACH-to-Accelerate-Path-to-Profitability.html

Neximmune to liquidate

 

9119 Gaither Road

Gaithersburg, MD 20877

November 20, 2023

To Our Stockholders:

You are cordially invited to attend a Special Meeting of Stockholders (the “Special Meeting”) of NexImmune, Inc. (the “Company”) to be held at 10:00 a.m., Eastern Time, on December 21, 2023. We have decided to hold the Special Meeting virtually via live webcast on the internet. We believe hosting a virtual special meeting enables greater stockholder attendance and participation from any location around the world, improves meeting efficiency and our ability to communicate effectively with our stockholders, and reduces the cost and environmental impact of the special meeting. You will be able to attend the Special Meeting, vote and submit your questions during the Special Meeting by visiting www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/NEXI2023SM2. You will not be able to attend the Special Meeting in person.

The purpose of the Special Meeting is to approve the liquidation and dissolution of the Company (the “Dissolution”) and the Plan of Liquidation and Dissolution (the “Plan of Dissolution”), which if approved, will authorize the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) to liquidate and dissolve the Company in accordance with the Plan of Dissolution. The Notice of Meeting and Proxy Statement on the following pages describe the matters to be presented at the meeting.

The Board carefully reviewed and considered the Plan of Dissolution in light of the financial position of the Company, including its available cash, resources and operations following and in light of the Company’s review and pursuit of strategic alternatives. The Board determined that the Dissolution was advisable and in the best interests of the Company and our stockholders, approved the Dissolution and the Plan of Dissolution and directed that the Plan of Dissolution and the Dissolution be submitted to the Company’s stockholders for approval. The Board unanimously recommends that you vote “FOR” the Dissolution Proposal and “FOR” each of other proposals described in the accompanying proxy statement.

More information about the Dissolution, the Plan of Dissolution and the Special Meeting is contained in the accompanying proxy statement. In particular, you should carefully read the section entitled “Risk Factors” beginning on page 9 of the proxy statement for a discussion of risks you should consider in evaluating the Dissolution.

It is important that your shares be represented at this meeting to assure the presence of a quorum. Whether or not you plan to attend the meeting, we hope that you will have your stock represented by submitting a proxy to vote your shares over the Internet or by telephone as provided in the instructions set forth on the enclosed proxy card, or by completing, signing, dating and returning your proxy in the enclosed envelope, as soon as possible. Your stock will be voted in accordance with the instructions you have given in your proxy.

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Kristi Jones

Chief Executive Officer

https://finance.yahoo.com/sec-filing/NEXI/0001193125-23-280769_1538210

Stocks Face A Nasty Pothole From A Miss In Today's ISM

 by Simon White, Bloomberg macro strategist,

A significant miss in the November manufacturing ISM, released later today, leaves stocks open to downside, as overboughtness and less favorable liquidity conditions meet hard-landing fears.

The US manufacturing ISM is one of the most consequential pieces of macro-economic data for markets.

It is the single largest explanatory factor for the performance of global stock markets, it is leading, and it is minimally revised. Last month it surprised to the downside, coming in at 46.7 versus 49 expected.

It’s a volatile number, and last month’s print could just be noise.

Moreover, short-term leading indicators for the ISM, such as the new orders-to-inventory ratio (see chart below), point to a continued rise in the headline index. Also the manufacturing PMI is more stable, and came in for November at 49.4.

Nonetheless, ISM could surprise negatively again. Stocks would be exposed to more downside this time, as it would happen when they are significantly more overbought - after one of the best November performances on record - and when liquidity conditions are becoming less favorable.

As discussed fully earlier this week, liquidity has been buoyant over the last month, principally due to the ~$200 billion rise in central bank reserves. Money market funds (MMFs) de facto funding the fiscal deficit via the purchase of T-bills, and the government withdrawing funds from the Treasury’s account at the Federal Reserve, combined to boost high-powered liquidity, driving a rally in stocks and bonds.

But that impulse from reserves has started to fade.

The one-month change of the one-month change of Fed reserves is now falling (blue line in chart below), which translates as the absence of a tailwind for stocks.

Thus far, the stock market has been greeting data with a soft-landing lens.

The expectation is the Fed will be able to cut rates a little as inflation softens - a typically Panglossian outlook for stocks - which have rallied as bond yields have fallen.

But a big drop in the ISM would (with some credence) amplify hard-landing fears. Stocks in this case would be likely to sell off as falling bond yields start to reflect a Fed cutting rates to try to stem a recession, which stocks are very much not discounting.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/stocks-face-nasty-pothole-miss-todays-ism

Truce Collapses, Missiles Fly Over Gaza, With 137 Israelis Still In Hamas Captivity

 The Gaza truce has collapsed and Israel has resumed its bombing campaign of the Strip, following a full week of ceasefire and seven rounds of hostage/prisoner exchanges.

Qatar and Egypt were reportedly pressing to extend the temporary pause in fighting for another two days, but Israel was not satisfied with the list of captives offered. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been looking into Hamas claims that the two young Bibas brothers were killed. "Israeli military has informed Bibas family members it is assessing a Hamas claim that the youngest Israeli hostage, 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, his brother Ariel, 4, and their mother Shiri are no longer alive," CNN reports

This grim and tragic revelation is likely what left Israel with less incentive to keep the ceasefire going, also as pressure has mounted from ultra-conservative circles within Netanyahu's own ruling coalition to take the fight back to Hamas, and to see through the vow of eliminating the terror group. 

Another big factor was Thursday's terror attack involving a pair of Palestinian gunmen who unleashed M16 and pistol fire on a crowd waiting at a Jerusalem bus stop, killing three Israelis and injuring 16. Shortly after the attack, Hamas claimed responsibility.

It's likely that negotiators in Doha are still scrambling to get a ceasefire urgently back in place. After all, Israel says there are still 137 hostages in Hamas captivity, which also includes some Americans. In total 110 were returned home over the past week, with hundreds of Palestinian prisoners released as part of the swap. The Times of Israel details of those who remain captive: 

Among those still in captivity after the end of the truce Friday are 115 men, 20 women and two children, government spokesperson Eylon Levy says. Ten of the hostages are 75 and older, he says. The majority, or 126, are Israeli and 11 are foreign nationals, including eight from Thailand.

Levy lists the youngest hostage, 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, his 4-year-old brother Ariel and their mother Shiri as among the hostages. The military has said it is investigating a Hamas claim that the boys and their mother were killed.

Dozens of Palestinians have been reported killed after airstrikes started again Friday morning...

Israel and mediators in Qatar were able to secure the release of most of the women and children hostages, as the last days have seen, but still 20 women remain along with the possibly still alive Bibas brothers, fate unknown. Israel as of Thursday welcomed eight more Israelis back from Hamas captivity.

The IDF is meanwhile already dropping leaflets over parts of southern Israel telling civilians to leave their homes and leave the area. Prior to the truce, there were sporadic bombardments of parts of the south. But now it looks like the IDF will take the fight to the southern half too, even after Secretary of State Blinken's urgings not to, conveyed to PM Netanyahu yesterday.

Blinken flew out of Tel Aviv as IDF warplanes began the renewed bombing campaign...

Rockets have resumed being fired from Gaza, and Israel is again evacuating some southern communities, as both sides could once again be settling in for a 'long war'. Rockets could also once again be coming from southern Lebanon. Hezbollah is likely to rejoin the fight. On Thursday Blinken had urged Netanyahu to avoid killing civilians and that the soaring Gaza death toll is increasingly turning world opinion against Israel.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/truce-collapses-missiles-fly-over-gaza-137-israelis-still-hamas-captivity