Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) revealed in a bombshell finding that millions of dollars in unemployment claims have been going to “fake people” who haven’t even been born yet — some not even in this century.
DOGE claimed it reviewed an initial survey of unemployment claims since 2020 that found that 9,700 people whose birth dates aren’t for another 15 years have claimed $69 million in benefits.
DOGE claimed that the department found hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent unemployment claims.“Your tax dollars were going to pay fraudulent unemployment claims for fake people born in the future!” Musk claimed in a post on X.AP
Another 24,500 people over the impossible age of 115 claimed $59 million in benefits; and some 28,000 people between the ages of 1 and 5 years old claimed $254 million in benefits, DOGE discovered.
“Your tax dollars were going to pay fraudulent unemployment claims for fake people born in the future!” Musk raged on X.
“This is so crazy that I had to read it several times before it sank in,” he added.
Musk, the world’s richest man, has been tasked by President Trump with heading the newly created DOGE’s efforts to cut wasteful spending and uncover fraud in the federal government.
“The oldest living American is 114 years old, so it is safe to say that anyone 115 or older is collecting ‘unemployment’ due to being dead,” he said in another post about DOGE’s troubling findings.
“There was no sanity check for impossibly young or impossibly old people for unemployment insurance.”
The Bank of England said on Thursday that it was postponing an auction of 600 million pounds ($774.24 million) of long-dated government bonds due on April 14 as a result of recent financial market turmoil.
The BoE said the sale - part of the BoE's efforts to reduce the huge stockpile of bonds it built up under QE - would be delayed until the following quarter and that it would hold an auction of short-dated government bonds on April 14 instead.
On Thursday, Jefferies initiated coverage on Verastem (NASDAQ:VSTM), a late-stage biopharmaceutical company with a market capitalization of $272 million, with a Buy rating and a price target of $15.00. Trading at $5.28, the stock has shown strong momentum with a 77% gain over the past six months. The company is currently focused on developing treatments for cancers that are connected to the RAS/MAPK signaling pathway.
Verastem’s key drug candidates include avutometinib, also known as a RAF/MEK clamp, and defactinib, a FAK inhibitor. These candidates are poised to potentially become the first FDA-approved therapy for low-grade serous ovarian cancer (LGSOC), with a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date set for June 30, 2025. The company maintains a strong liquidity position with a current ratio of 3.07.
Feedback from key opinion leaders (KOLs) in the medical community indicates a high level of anticipated adoption for these treatments, regardless of patients’ KRAS mutation status. This contrasts with current market expectations, which Jefferies suggests are limited to the approximately 30% of LGSOC patients who have KRAS mutations.
Verastem’s pipeline also includes opportunities in genetically defined subsets of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with G12C mutations and in first-line pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Additionally, Verastem’s collaboration with GenFleet on a G12D ON/OFF inhibitor is seen as a further upside by Jefferies.
Wellgistics Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:WGRX), a holding company for healthcare technology and pharmaceutical services with a market capitalization of $223.36 million, announced its acquisition of Peek Healthcare Technologies, Inc., the operator of the Peek Meds Marketplace. This digital platform provides consumers with real-time prescription pricing transparency to aid in informed medication purchasing decisions.
The acquisition, announced today, aims to enhance Wellgistics Health’s digital healthcare ecosystem and further its commitment to creating an affordable, patient-centered prescription experience. According to Brian Norton, CEO of Wellgistics Health, the integration of Peek’s platform with their technology stack will bring a comprehensive suite of solutions to the market, potentially reducing prescription costs for stakeholders.
Peek’s growth potential is underscored by forecasts indicating a 40% increase in U.S. retail prescription drug spending over the next decade. Regulatory developments like the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, which mandates drug price transparency, are expected to drive consumer adoption of prescription shopping platforms. While Wellgistics Health has shown strong momentum with a 12.86% price return over the past six months, challenges include a modest 9.75% gross profit margin and negative EBITDA of $5.03 million in the last twelve months.
In addition to the marketplace, Peek offers a consulting division that aids drug manufacturers with market access, branding, and commercialization. The acquisition by Wellgistics Health will add trade, distribution, and pharmacy services to this suite, promising a more integrated commercialization service for pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Dexcom has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for the G7 15-day continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system for adults with diabetes.
According to the company, it’s the longest lasting CGM system with 15.5 days of wear. It boasts an overall MARD (mean absolute relative difference) of 8% and easier glucose management with fewer monthly sensors and reduced monthly waste.
Dexcom said it’s working with its insulin pump partners to make sure the G7 15-day will be compatible with automated insulin delivery (AID) systems upon its launch. G7 is currently compatible with the Omnipod 5 AID and t:slim X2 insulin pump.
The rollout is anticipated in the U.S. in the second half of 2025.
The Department of Homeland Security has revoked the legal status of some individuals who were allowed to enter the United States using a phone application set up under the previous administration.
Some of the more than 900,000 people who were let into the country with the CBP One app have been notified that their legal status has been revoked, a move that officials said was made at the direction of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
“The Biden Administration abused the parole authority to allow millions of illegal aliens into the U.S. which further fueled the worst border crisis in U.S. history,“ a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told The Epoch Times in an email. ”Under federal law, Secretary Noem—in support of the President—has full authority to revoke parole. Canceling these paroles is a promise kept to the American people to secure our borders and protect national security.”
The law states in part that the secretary of homeland security may parole applicants, or let them in with temporary legal status, “on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.”
The law also states, “When the purposes of such parole shall, in the opinion of the Secretary of Homeland Security, have been served the alien shall forthwith return or be returned to the custody from which he was paroled and thereafter his case shall continue to be dealt with in the same manner as that of any other applicant for admission to the United States.”
“Formal termination notices have been issued, and affected aliens are urged to voluntarily self-deport using the CBP Home App,” the DHS spokesperson said, using the new name for the app. “Those who refuse will be found, removed, and permanently barred from reentry.”
DHS said in a post on social media platform X that those who do not remove themselves will face escalating fines.
It’s not clear exactly how many of these parolees received notices. DHS said in late 2024 that more than 936,500 people had been granted entry through CBP One. The most common nationalities of the entrants were Venezuelan, Cuban, and Mexican.
Officials under President Joe Biden said the app presented a safe way for those who would otherwise enter the country illegally to meet with immigration officials and, if cleared, be able to enter the United States.
Critics such as Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) said the app enabled the administration to let in people who should not be granted entry.
The DHS Office of Inspector General said in 2024 that the app admission process suffered from issues, including an inability to check each photograph submitted by applicants.
Customs and Border Protection halted the scheduling of appointments through the app on Jan. 20, the day on which Trump was sworn in for his second term. The president had described the service as a “phone app for smuggling illegals.”
The normally crucial consumer price index measure of inflation printing today for March is likely to take a back seat to the next red flashing headline on tariffs on everyone's Bloomberg terminal, but under the hood - with the Trump Put now exposed - can a cooler than expected CPI print raise the Powell Put strike enough to enable a true tradable bottom here?
Having dipped lower in the previous month (following a few straight months of re-acceleration), expectations were for both headline and core measures to continue trending lower on a YoY basis... and they were.
Headline CPI FELL 0.1% MoM (vs +0.1% exp), which dragged the YoY CPI to +2.4%, matching the September lows...
Source: Bloomberg
That is the weakest MoM print since May 2020.
Core CPI also printed cooler than expected (+0.1% MoM vs +0.3% MoM exp), pulling the YoY print down t0 +2.8% YoY - the lowest since March 2021...
Source: Bloomberg
Services inflation tumbled...
Source: Bloomberg
CPI breakdown:
Headline:
CPI decreased 0.1% after rising 0.2% in February, and below the +0.1% estimate. Over the last 12 months, CPI rose 2.4%, below the 2.5% estimate.
Energy CPI fell 2.4% in March, as a 6.3% decline in the index for gasoline more than offset increases in the indexes for electricity and natural gas.
Food CPI rose 0.4% in March as the food at home index increased 0.5% and the food away from home index rose 0.4 percent over the month.
Core CPI:
The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.1% in March, following a 0.2% increase in February.
Indexes that increased over the month include personal care, medical care, education, apparel, and new vehicles.
The indexes for airline fares, motor vehicle insurance, used cars and trucks, and recreation were among the major indexes that decreased in March.
Core CPI details (MoM increase):
The shelter index increased 0.2% over the month.
The index for owners’ equivalent rent rose 0.% in March and the index for rent increased 0.3%.
The lodging away from home index fell 3.5 percent in March.
The personal care index rose 1.0%in March.
The index for education rose 0.4% over the month, as did the index for apparel.
The new vehicles index also increased over the month, rising 0.1%.
The index for airline fares fell 5.3% in March, after declining 4.0% in February.
The indexes for motor vehicle insurance, used cars and trucks, and recreation also fell over the month.
The household furnishings and operations index was unchanged in March.
The medical care index increased 0.2% over the month.
The index for hospital services increased 1.1% in March and the index for physicians’ services rose 0.3% over the month. In contrast, the prescription drugs index fell 2.0% in March.
Core CPI details (YoY increase):
The index for all items less food and energy rose 2.8 percent over the past 12 months.
The shelter index increased 4.0 percent over the last year, the smallest 12-month increase since November 2021.
Other indexes with notable increases over the last year include motor vehicle insurance (+7.5 percent), medical care (+2.6 percent), recreation (+1.9 percent), and education (+3.9 percent).
While goods inflation is flat (zero-ish), services cost inflation is fading fast...
Source: Bloomberg
Shelter and Rent inflation is slowing fast:
Shelter inflation +0.3% MoM, +3.99% YoY, down from 4.25% in February (lowest since Nov 2021)
Rent inflation +0.3% MoM, +3.99% YoY, down from 4.09% in February (lowest since Jan 2022)
The so-called SuperCore CPI - Services Ex-Shelter - dropped 0.1% MoM dragging it down to +3.22% YoY - the lowest since Dec 2021...
Source: Bloomberg
Source: Bloomberg
Drill Baby Drill (and tariffs recession fears) have dragged energy prices lower and pulled CPI lower with it...
Source: Bloomberg
But, but, but... Democrats at UMich said inflation would explode because Orange Man Bad?
